Love for Carter
by cartersdaughter
Summary: Carter's niece comes to live with him, and he deals with the craziness of raising a teenager. Surprising end, leading into a 7th Heaven X-over. This story is being revised so take some time to re-read. Chapters 1-3 reposted.
1. Abandoned

_**Disclaimer: Anything from ER is not mine. If it was, I'd be in Hollywood, not writing fanfiction.**_

_**Author's Notes: This chapter is a revised version of one already posted. There are some major changes. So if you know someone who has read the story before please tell them to re-read. **_

_**Also, I do all of my own editing, and despite the fact I go over each piece of writing at least three times there still may be some mistakes. If you see them, please point them out kindly.**_

_**The bold is the main character Jackie talking in the future, telling the story of how her family came to be the way it is. It is her clarifying things. Imagine someone asking a question , and she's answering it in the bold, or sometimes on TV shows when the character stops and talks to the audience or there is a voiceover. The bold is like that.**_

Chapter 1- Abandoned

**Before I tell you anything, let me start out by saying my family situation is **_**well**_**… a little different. Not that I'm complaining; I love my family, every single one of them. This is the story of how we became a family, and that, however, is a little bit crazy. But, then again it's **_**my**_** family. So I'll tell you my story, and if you can deal with the craziness and stick it out, you might get what most people call a happy ending. We just call it family.**

**It all started what seems like a million years ago. But that's an exaggeration. It all started when I was fourteen, the summer before my freshman year of high school. That was the summer everything changed.**

"Hey, it's your turn," my cousin, Kenny yelled chucking the bright orange basketball at my head as though it was a grenade. We were having a combined 8th grade graduation party and were playing HORSE at the basket that stood hidden by the side of my house, so we didn't have to keep seeing guests. I was pretty sure neither set of parents had yet realized we were missing. This party was more for them than for us anyway; it was just an excuse for them to have friends over and for my uncle to see the extent of "country living." My family didn't live in the middle of nowhere; we just lived off of what was known as the beaten path, which meant we had lots of space to host a party. Kenny and I didn't care; we were both silent shy soon-to-be freshman. In the fall, we would be heading to different high schools because Kenny was moving. Kenny and I would both rather have been spending time with our best friend who was leaving rather than see hoards of people. I sighed, rolling my eyes at him and ran to get the ball that had whizzed past my head like a bullet.

Grabbing it, I turned and made a shot from where it had landed at the imaginary three-point line. It went through the hoop with a slight swish. "You have an O," I said smirking at my cousin, knowing full well he couldn't make the shot, and turned back to what had distracted me in the first place.

I had turned away from the game for just a second because I heard a car coming up the road and since we live off the beaten path that means gravel. You could hear tires almost a mile away because there were only three houses on that road. Our neighbors, if you could even call them that, there was so much space between houses, were at our house, so I knew it was someone for our party. I had glanced away to see if it was anyone I wanted or needed to greet.

The car was a small four door black jeep with Illinois license plates I recognized instantly. The minute the jeep pulled into our wide spiral driveway my suspicions were confirmed. It belonged to my uncle, John Carter. I barely waited for the jeep to pull up to a complete stop on the grass before taking off in a full sprint across the yard. Kenny had taken to practicing his free-throws in my absence, knowing the game was over. Carter was my godfather and given that he lived in Chicago, which was six hours away, when he showed up, for me…time stopped. Reaching him, I jumped into his arms. Carter was ready, picking me up and spinning me around after he had gotten out of the car.

"Hey, Gorgeous," he said smiling his award-winning smile after putting me back down and ducking into the car.

"Hey, Uncle John," I said giving the same giant grin in return.

"I hear it's someone's graduation or something." A sly grin began to tug at the corners of his mouth as he pulled his head back out of the car clutching a small box in his hand.

He handed the box to me, "What is it?"

"Open it and find out."

I opened it. Inside was a golden chain like a charm bracelet, only it was a necklace. Hanging from the chain were small charms: a cross, a book, and a small lab coat with the name Carter etched into it. "I love it, thank you," I gave him a small peck on the cheek.

"Only the best for my favorite niece," he answered fastening it around my neck.

"You're my favorite uncle, Uncle John."

**Okay, now's a good time to explain. My name is Jackie Kohl; well, my full name is Jacklynn Alexis Kohl. That summer, I was graduating from 8th grade in a small town in Central Wisconsin. Where isn't important, what happened is.**

**It all started with my uncle, John. John Carter is an uncle on my mom's side of the family. She has nine brothers and sisters not counting John. He was a foster child with my mom's family for a while when his parents were too busy dealing with his brother, Bobby's, cancer to take care of him. One of the maids had family in the area where my mother's family lived, so she brought him home with her there, so he could have a somewhat normal childhood. He's technically not my uncle, but all my cousins and I treated him like one, and he treated us like real nieces and nephews.**

**So back to the party. **

Uncle John was so busy socializing with the rest of the family he didn't have any time to spend with me for the rest of the day. However, he stayed the night at our house because he didn't feel like driving all the way back to Chicago at midnight. John spent the night in our guest room which was right across from my room as well as next to the bathroom. My parents' and sister's rooms were on the opposite side of the house.

As I walked down the hall to my room, I passed the guest room. "Good night," I said smiling cheerfully at my good day. My uncle completely ignored me, or so I thought. I went into my room, shutting the door quietly so as not to disturb Uncle John, and burying my face in my pillow, cried me to sleep. I was under the impression my favorite uncle hated me. The next day the party went on some more, with more and more people crowding our house and yard, I didn't see Uncle John again until late that night.

As I passed the guest room, I thought I'd try again; even though, I was positive Uncle John hated me I just wanted to be sure. Knocking softly and poking my head through the door, I smiled and said, "Good night, Uncle John."

I was surprised to hear a response, "Good night, Jackie." There was a pause. As I began to open the door to my room thinking he was finished, he said, "Hey, come in here for a sec." So I went in, tiptoeing easily my socks barely touching the floor. I was careful to be quiet because my mom had bat-like hearing and would get very mad if she thought I was bugging Carter and keeping him from getting the sleep that he wanted or needed. It wouldn't matter if I wasn't bothering him at all, for instance this time around he had asked me into the room. That didn't matter to my mother; if I was talking to any adult, she assumed that an adult wouldn't want my company, so I was being a nuisance or a distraction.

As I took a seat at the foot of his bed he continued," Listen, I'm sorry about last night. I was really into the book I'm reading, and I was distracted thinking about my friends, especially my girlfriend, Abby Lockhart, back in Chicago." I heard a note of homesickness in his voice. He seemed to miss his job and his life in Chicago so much, almost as if the people he worked with were his family. I longed to have a bond like that with anyone. I thought of how I'd love to meet the people my uncle so fondly talked about during his visits, bringing pictures and stories galore.

Smiling, he shooed me off his bed, "Okay, now go to bed before your mom comes. I'll see you in the morning." I nodded heading back to my room. Everything was right with the world.

The next morning, he had to go home back to Chicago. My mother wished him safe travels and thanked him for staying with us. When she had gone and it was just the two of us, he kissed my forehead. "Good bye, Gorgeous. Be good until I come back."

"I will. Good bye, Uncle John. I love you."

"I love you too."

~~ Two weeks later ~~

My parents told me my sister had a conference to go to, and while she was at the conference my parents were going to look at a new house as well. As parents they had to be at the conference, so they figured that the trip should be somewhat productive.

"We'll be back in a week. Don't call anyone and don't get into trouble," they said before heading out the door without a second glance.

I nodded and shrugged. I was used to staying alone and used to my parents taking my sister places I wasn't allowed to go. Because my sister was the favorite, I often had to stay home when she was allowed to go out and have fun. It was accepted fact I was going to make friends at school, but I was very rarely permitted to spend nights at their houses, so people wouldn't get suspicious.

However, this time I sensed something was different as the car was packed up with bigger items from our house like the living room couch in U-haul. I was fourteen-years-old, not stupid. A U-haul meant something big was going down.

However, my parents just came up with another excuse. They told me I couldn't come with because there wouldn't be enough room for the four of us and all the stuff in the vehicle. "You wouldn't fit, and it would be uncomfortable for so long a drive."

But they were taking a U-haul just in case they found the perfect house, no use making more trips back and forth than they had to. I assumed they would be back in just over a week because their time-frames were never quite accurate, so I settled in for time by myself. Time where: I could do what I wanted and not worry about getting yelled at or talked down to.

After almost three weeks had passed, and my family still hadn't returned, I was beginning to run out of the food they had left. I didn't want to call my friends because they didn't know my entire situation; they just knew I was not allowed to hang out at their houses very often.

So instead, I dialed Carter hoping I wouldn't get his voicemail and having no idea what to do if I did. "Uncle John," I said worried, my voice trembling over the phone line after I heard my uncle's confused hello. I was so anxious and distracted I didn't even think to say who was calling. "I think I've been abandoned."


	2. Found

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything from ER. Just love the characters and writing about them.**_

_**AN: As stated before, I do all my own editing. Feel free to point out any errors, but please do so kindly. Constructive criticism is helpful; cruel criticism is mean.**_

_**Another chapter re-posted. Hope you are enjoying the story so far.**_

Chapter 2-Found

After the words tumbled out, quickly spilling over each other like water in a sink that had been left on too long, I realized how true they were. I had never been left alone for longer periods of time than a week, so I didn't really know what abandonment meant. However, looking around my house I was positive I had been abandoned.

The house, for all intents and purposes was empty. All of the large pieces of furniture were gone, having been shoved into the back of the truck and trailer that had been attached. What hadn't been taken was shoved into corners and covered with white tarps like in movies when people went away on vacation or a summer home was closed up until June. The house was so barren it felt like a cave, my voice echoing off the walls bouncing trying to fill the massive amounts of space.

"Hey, Hey, Calm down," Uncle John's voice finally filtered through my racing thoughts sounding concerned. "I'm sure they didn't leave you. I'm sure they went exactly where they said they were going and left you to watch the house because they didn't want to drag you somewhere they thought you felt you would be bored, and they feel you're old enough to be trusted with that much responsibility. They are probably just running late or got held up for some reason. Now, tell me exactly what happened."

"Well, they said they were going to a conference for Mekayla then stopping to check out a new house, but I couldn't go with because there wasn't enough room. But they took almost all of the larger stuff in the house with them to move in if they found the right house, except my stuff, the microwave, and some other small odds and ends."

"Ok, I'll come get you. You can stay with me until they come home. And if they abandoned you, which I'm sure they didn't, you can live with me, and I'll see what I can do to track them down. That way, whatever happens, you're not all alone. How does that sound? I'll come get you as soon as I can spare a moment."

"Okay, what do you want me to do? I just have my stuff like clothes and books."

"Do you have anything you could put that stuff into like a suitcase or some boxes?"

"There are a couple of boxes laying around in the living room that look like they were forgotten."

"Good. Start trying to get some of your stuff put into those boxes. If it doesn't all fit, well, we'll deal with that when I get there. You can bring it all to my house in Chicago, so you have it with you."

Four hours later, I was packing the remainder of my stuff into the final box when the phone rang. I ran to pick it up, though I really shouldn't have because everyone I knew thought I was on vacation with my family which is also why I hadn't called any of my friends to stay at their houses.

That is everyone except Uncle John.

"Hello," I said tentatively just in case it wasn't him. Truth be told, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to say if it wasn't.

"Hey, Gorgeous," I heard from the other end. "I want you to talk to me." I thought this was a silly request since he was the one who had called me. But I did as he asked. I talked to him about everything: school, my friends, and anything else I could think of. I realized I didn't feel quite so lonely and abandoned anymore. All of the sudden, I glanced out the window and saw a car pulling into the driveway.

"Uncle John, I should go. Someone just pulled in the yard," I said getting ready to push the off button on the phone attached to the wall. My parents didn't believe in cordless phones, nor did they believe in getting me a personal phone. Why did I need a phone? I saw my friends at school, and if we wanted to make plans, we should do it then. Also I couldn't have a cell phone or cordless phone because if the phone was attached to the wall in the kitchen, then my parents could monitor my conversations and make sure I wasn't telling anyone things I shouldn't or they believed I shouldn't.

I was going to hang up the phone and go sit in hall closet until the person in the car decided to leave. Because no one knew I was home, if I hid in the closet, the crack was just big enough that I could see out, but no one could see in. Also, our front hall closet lined up perfectly with our front windows, so I would know exactly when the car left. Not to mention the fact that I could listen until I heard the rumble of the engine fade away down the road.

"No! Don't hang up. Keep talking. I'm not finished with you yet young lady," I knew, while he was being serious Uncle John was also joking because there was a slight laugh to his voice. He knew my situation, so he knew there was a very thin line almost like spring ice which a person needed to walk when joking with me in a stern tone. Often, I couldn't tell the difference between sarcastic joking and true reprimanding. Uncle John was always sure to add a small laugh or grin, if I could see him, so I would learn to tell the difference.

"Uncle John," I pleaded. "I really have to go." Watching the car out the window made me nervous. It was now pulling into the end of our long driveway. I didn't know who it was, and it was now close enough that I could see it was a long brown station wagon and had a U-Haul trailer attached to it. I didn't recognize it from anywhere. None of my friends' parents owned that type of car. Neither did any of our neighbors.

A young man about thirty got out of the car. I watched the man the whole time, studying him the whole time he walked to the house. He had brown hair sticking up in all directions and wore a long gray trench coat and one of those fedora hats like you would see in a movie that took place in the twenties. The man looked professional keeping his head down and walking quickly as though he was on a mission, probably some salesman wanting to speak with my parents. He looked familiar, but I couldn't place him.

The doorbell rang. Uncle John was still chatting away, his voice background noise to the doorbell, but I didn't hear a word he was saying I was frozen too focused on the man at my front door.

"Are you ready to go yet?" Uncle John asked, and my mind snapped back to the phone, eyes still glued to the door.

"What?" I asked my mind now fully focused on the voice at the other end while trying to open the door at the same time. I had completely forgotten my plan to hide in the closet I was so distracted by both Uncle John's voice in my ear and the strange man on my front steps.

The man on the other side helped me to open the door by pushing the door open from the other side once I had it unlocked.

"Are you ready to go yet?" Uncle John repeated. I looked up from trying to open the door. I was stuck and the harder I pulled the more it seemed to stick.

I was confused at the both the door and Uncle John. He sounded like he was right next to me though that couldn't be possible. He was six hours away in Chicago and calling me on break from work. The door came open a crack after a good shove from the man on the other side, giving me a full view of the man on the porch. He was Uncle John! Carter was standing right outside the door holding it open with a cell phone in his hand.

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, yes, I'm ready, but one thing. Uncle John, you're a sneak."

"What?" he questioned faking mild surprise.

"You said you'd get here as soon as you could."

"Well, so what? I did, didn't I?" he said his face lighting up with a knowing smile.

"But…" I was still confused because my uncle was supposed to be at work six hours away.

"No buts. Dr. Weaver let me off early, so I could come get you. I have to work the night shift for the next few days, but it's worth it. Let's go. I rented a bigger car because I didn't know how much stuff you would have."

"Not much." We loaded the five boxes of my stuff into the backseat of the car, and my desk into the trailer. The desk had been a birthday present from Uncle John, and he insisted it come along. I locked the house door, after giving the house a once over to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything, and climbed into the front seat next to Carter. He immediately started a new conversation. I was sure it was only to keep me distracted from thinking about my family and the life I was leaving behind. He always was the one to know when to talk and when to keep silent.

"You're going to love Chicago. I'll take you to my grandmother's mansion, so you can meet her and my mom, Eleanor. We might stay there because I do sometimes. It depends on whether or not Mom and I are in a fight, but you don't have to worry about that. And, I'll show you my apartment and the ER. You'll meet my friends and the rest of the staff. You'll live with me in my apartment or at the mansion until your parents come back, or I find you a new family. I'll give you a week or two to get settled and give your parents some time to get back. If they don't show up by then, I'll enroll you at school."

"Okay, sounds like a plan," I whispered timidly. While it did sound like a good plan, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. What happened when the two weeks were up, and Uncle John decided he didn't want me anymore? Taking care of a teenager was a lot of responsibility. Was Carter sure he wanted to go from a carefree bachelor to being tied down with a kid? My contemplative thoughts rolled and roiled matching the gray clouds in the sky. I was quiet for the rest of the time reading or listening to music.

"We're here," I started out of a doze as I heard from the next seat a voice from the driver's seat and saw the mansion Uncle John had mentioned. It was a beautiful towering house. I could see the outline of glass behind the enormous house, probably signaling the existence of a greenhouse or something similar. I was eager to go inside and explore this new paradise. I had never seen anything so amazing or so lavish in my entire life. I wanted know all there was to know about it. What there a pool? How big was the yard? How many rooms were in this house and what were they all used for? I had never been to visit my uncle. The only time I had ever had any contact with him other than long distance phone conversations was when he made the trek to my part of the world.

"You live here?" I said in awe, my eyes traveling from the marble staircase which my uncle stood at the top of to the ornate wood and glass doors he stood next to. I was soaking up every intricate detail. I had never seen anything so extravagant in my entire life. I had never pictured my uncle as a rich man. He was a down-to-earth caring person, and this elaborate set up didn't match him at all.

"No, this is my grandmother's house. I used to live here, though," he said with a tinge of bitterness that I didn't think he knew I caught. "Come on," he said waving me up the stairs. I raced up, keen not to be left alone, and to get more in-depth picture of whom my uncle was. I knew only the man who had come to visit me; now there was a whole new side of him opening that I had never know about. This side I assumed was kept tightly under wrap.

Taking a deep breath, I followed him into the house. The minute I was again overwhelmed at the luxuriousness of it all. The grand marble staircase and painting and artifacts scattered throughout the entryway. To add to my confusion, as we stepped into the house, a maid tried to take my coat. She put her arms on my shoulders and pulled. I shied away behind Uncle John. I glanced at him, surely he was embarrassed now and having second thoughts about me coming with him. He gave me an odd slightly puzzled look but shrugged off my behavior. I knew I shouldn't have shied away because I was fourteen-years-old, but I did anyway. I couldn't help it. Everything was new and getting stranger by the minute. This strange person was touching me and trying to take one of the few possessions I had.

Uncle John nudged me, giving me a look that said, "We will talk about this later." I reluctantly handed over my coat to the maid as he introduced her and the two men standing next to her. "This is Emily and Henry and George. If you need anything just ask them. Especially Emily, that's what she's here for. And she really enjoys helping."

I stood by and nodded, unsure of how to respond. I was so used to taking care of and fending for myself.

We continued into the kitchen where Emily had just come from. Inside was an older woman nibbling on a piece of food I didn't recognize but assumed was very expensive. I didn't think this could be Uncle Carter's grandmother she looked too young. She had brown hair pulled tightly back in a bun high on her head and a pinched face which looked as though she had just smelled something nasty. But she still resembled Uncle John, so I thought it could be his mother. He walked up to her a determined attitude to his step, a no-nonsense look on his face, "Mom, this is my niece, Jackie Kohl. She's going to be staying with me for a while."

Carter's mother looked up in surprise from where she had been jotting down what looked to be a menu," What?"

"Hi," I whispered barely audible, scooting to stand behind Carter again from where he had pushed me forward in a manner of presentation.

"Niece?" Carter's mom looked puzzled. "Niece? What niece?"

Carter pulled her off to the side like adults do when they don't want kids to be part of the conversation. He motioned for me to stay where I was, and I did too terrified to move. All this new stuff was beginning to engulf me. Now, I was unwanted again. I could see it in the eyes of Mrs. Carter. While she was Uncle John's mother, I felt a coldness to this woman that was nothing like the warm and loving man I had become accustomed to. What would happen now? What we're they talking about, other than me?

I was utterly convinced she was going to be able to persuade Uncle John to take me back to that empty house, where I would be all alone. He and Mrs. Carter whispered standing in the corner heads down thinking I didn't know what was going on, but I could still hear them. "What! How could you possibly have a niece? Your brother died when you were ten. Unless your sister told you something she wouldn't tell me," she said in an angry whisper.

"No, I haven't spoken to her since Christmas," Uncle John stated his voice harsh. "She hasn't spoken to me since she found out you were in Chicago." "Yes," he hissed continuing, "my brother. When he had cancer, you were never home. And Gamma and Grandpa were always attending functions or charity events, and my sister fended for herself staying friends' houses and whatever else she wanted to do because you didn't care. Since Alveena was the only one caring for me, she took me to live with her in Wisconsin. When her own family became too much to handle, she had me stay with some neighbors. I blended right in with their children, and the children accepted me as one of their own even though I was only there for a short period of time. We still keep in touch on a regular basis, and I travel to Wisconsin every once and a while for a party or celebration. They all are married now and have kids of their own. One of the girls is Jackie's mom," Uncle John said by way of explanation, neither giving out too much information or too little.

However, his mother was anything but understanding. She was downright confrontational, "Why is she with you then? If her Mother has eight brothers and sisters, why isn't she staying with one of them? Where's her family? Is she on vacation from school or something?" she was firing questions at him like there was no tomorrow.

"Or something," he mumbled. "Enough with the questions mother," Carter said exasperated. "They abandoned her. Or at least, I think they did. They left her at their house with only her stuff. So she's going to stay with me until I either decide to adopt her or find a family for her, or heaven forbid her family comes back."

"Adopt her! John, are you crazy? She's a thirteen-year-old girl for heaven's sake." I was fourteen but that fact didn't matter too much at this point.

"I know."

"What do you know about raising a teenager, especially a girl?"

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Well, at least he was being honest. "But that doesn't mean I can't try. I still might adopt her. And I'm definitely letting her stay with me." Mrs. Carter let out a frustrated sigh, and they walked back over. I hadn't moved an inch, and my face was blank as though I had heard nothing. And apparently, I had missed some things because when Uncle John spoke, I was completely floored, "Jackie, I've changed my mind. Would you mind if we stayed here instead of going to my apartment? My grandmother would probably like it better if we stayed here."

I stared, completely struck dumb. "Sure," was the only thing I could manage.

"Let me show you show you to your room," he said.

I looked at Mrs. Carter one last time. She was fuming. Then I turned and traipsed up the stairs quickly and quietly sticking as close as I could to my uncle avoiding his mother's gaze because I knew she didn't like me very much. I also knew we were only staying here to annoy her. But I didn't want to disappoint my uncle.

At the top of the stairs and around the corner was a huge room, twice the size of my old room. "This is your room," Carter moved to the side, and I got a good look at the room. "I hope you like it."

"I love it," I cried as I jumped up to hug him around the neck and give him a kiss on the cheek.

"You haven't even looked at it yet," he spun me around. "I'll leave you to get aquatinted with your new room. Dinner is at 6:00 P.M. sharp, okay. Make sure you wear something nice," he turned and left. It took me a while to process. I had to go to dinner at a specific time and be dressed nice. This was going to take some getting used to. And I wanted to help Uncle John any way I could, which meant I had to please Mrs. Carter.

After taking a minute to think about what living with my uncle could mean, I turned to look at the room. There were blue walls and tan carpet. There were water panels in the wall and a thing that bubbled. I had seen one of those before in a restaurant but never in a bedroom. I felt like I was underwater. I glanced around the room and realized all my stuff was there. I stopped to think about when Uncle John had brought it in because he had been with me the whole time. Then I realized where I was. The people I met when we first arrived had done it. In the corner opposite my stuff was a white bookcase painted with dolphins filled with knickknacks and books. The room was lined with shelves for me to put my things. Next to the bookcase was a window and under the window was a window seat covered with blue satin. I started to unpack. I put my clothes in the walk-in closet and my knickknacks and books on the shelves. I opened the cedar chest behind the door and pulled out some blankets and put them on the bed. After I unpacked, I went to the bookshelf and pulled out my favorite book _The Outsiders_. I read two chapters and looked at the clock. It was 5:30 P.M.

_I should change for dinner_, I thought. I changed from my traveling clothes: a black Branson, Missouri T-shirt with cowboy hats on, a pair of jeans with a hole in the knee, Nike socks, tennis shoes, and my hair tied back in a loose braid. To some dress clothes: a sweater with blue, purple, and white horizontal stripes, a pair of flare jeans, socks with the word Angel, some high-heel shoes, and my hair tied back in a tight bun. I looked at the time again. It was 5:57 P.M. I had three minutes to get downstairs. As I walked down the stairs, Mrs. Carter, John, and Emily looked up.

John smiled and the others looked surprised, Mrs. Carter the most. This wasn't the scared, shy, ragamuffin girl she had seen hiding behind her son earlier this afternoon. Now cleaned up, she looked quite pretty, confident, and courageous.

When I got down the stairs, I took my place at the table next to Uncle John and smiled at everyone. Emily was taken by surprise and smiled back. I still only spoke when spoken to. Mrs. Carter asked me the common questions but avoided asking about my family. She had started to once but was silenced immediately with a glare from her son.

"So where are you from?" she asked not the least bit curious, just trying to make polite conversation.

"Wisconsin," I answered her in one word. I liked her about at little as she liked me. Not only did she give me the creeps, she also terrified me, though I didn't show it. Because I could tell she didn't like me, I tried to avoid talking to her as much as I could.

"Well, what grade are you in?"

"Freshman," I said as coldly as possible hoping to discourage further conversation.

But she gave me a weird, condescending, look and continued, "Where do you go to school?"  
"School's out for the summer." Five words was the longest piece of conversation I had with Mrs. Carter because after that she dropped the conversation. We ate the rest of our meal in silence. As soon as I was finished, I picked up my plate as I was taught to do and began to walk to the kitchen. Emily gave me a funny look, slightly amused, slightly confused, and Uncle John motioned for me to put the plate back down. So I put the plate back down, walked over and gave him a kiss goodnight on the cheek to thank him and make his mother mad, and quietly slipped back up the stairs to leave the adults discuss the eventful happenings of the day without what they considered to be little ears.

But I couldn't help myself. At the top of the stairs, I stopped and sat. I knew I shouldn't, but I couldn't help eavesdropping. I wanted to hear what "that woman" was saying about me. I had only known her for four hours, but I already harbored a strong dislike and knew same felt the same way about me.

"John! You can't just let that girl live with you until her parents come back!"

"I'm not _letting_ her live with me. I want her to live with me, and I don't even know if her parents are going to come back. Knowing them, they won't. I know that, and I'm sure she knows that."

Silent tears trailed down my face. As much as I had guessed, suspected, Uncle John confirmed. My parents weren't coming back. I was officially alone. An orphan.

"You can't be sure. You have no way of knowing that!" Though Mrs. Carter had confidence no one could leave their child forever, I knew in my heart that Uncle John was right.

"Yes I can!" my uncle's voice was beginning to rise. I was getting a little frightened. I had never heard him yell before. "You haven't met her parents," he said with venom.

Somehow I knew only Mrs. Carter could make Uncle John this mad. From what I could hear in his voice he was practically vibrating with anger. "She is either going to live with me, or I'm going to find her a family if it's the last thing I do."

"You can't be serious," his mother sounded flabbergasted.

"I am, and there's nothing you can do about it. So don't try to stop me."

I started going up the rest of the stairs to my room from the place where I had paused feeling the finality of my uncle's words and worried he might come up the stairs in a effort to storm off. I needed to come to terms with the fact my parents were never coming back, and there was nothing I could do about it. But wherever the argument between the Carters went, I was sure Uncle John would win. There was no reason for me to listen to the rest. I knew I would be taken care of. Whether he would find me a new family or be my new family. Life could only get better from here.


	3. The Meeting

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything from ER. Just love the characters and writing about them.**_

_**AN: As stated before, I do all my own editing. Feel free to point out any errors, but please do so kindly. Constructive criticism is helpful; cruel criticism is mean.**_

_**AN2: Romano is a jerk. Everyone who has seen the show knows this, hence the language. And there may be some inconsistencies, but that's because I need some of the characters that were not on the show during the time frame the story is taking place. So I guess you could call this slightly AU.**_

_**Another chapter re-posted. Hope you are enjoying the story so far.**_

Chapter 3- The Meeting

**Intrigued yet? I know, it's been pretty boring so far, but I have to set you up so you'll know what is going on when the exciting stuff happens. Back to my story. I know. I know. You want to know to know when we are going to get to the crazy. Be patient. It's coming. Things are just beginning to heat up.**

One week later, still no word from my parents, I had comfortably settled into life at the mansion and was sitting on my bed reading _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,_ a new book I had started since finishing _The Outsiders_. I knew I had nothing to do because I hadn't been enrolled in school yet due to the summer holiday, and the fact Uncle John felt I still needed time to adjust to my new surroundings and lifestyle. I loved to read, so I was buzzing through book after book with all the free time.

I was absorbed in Harry's latest adventure when I heard a knock on the door. Out of habit, I reached over and grabbed my CD player off my nightstand. I assumed the person at the door was probably Mrs. Carter, and I didn't want to talk to her. She had a habit of coming up to make sure I wasn't doing anything she didn't approve of. I swore she thought I was going to rob her blind or something. I was only fourteen-years-old. How much damage could I really do?

Mrs. Carter, I refused to call her anything else, and she refused to let me, however, believed I was going to grow up to be the world's next criminal mastermind. Needless to say, she didn't really like me, and the more I avoided conversation with her the better. It was also less I had to talk about the situation which had brought me hear in the first place.

If I put my headphones on and turned up the music, I could usually pretend I didn't hear her knock, and most of the time, she would peek in the door to make sure I wasn't doing anything illegal and then go away about her business. This hiding tactic was as a rule reliable, but this time, the door didn't open right away, and the knocking persisted. This time she wasn't giving up, in some weird attempt to be polite she kept a steady beat on the door. I took off my headphones hearing the sound of the hand on the door over my music. I couldn't believe she had managed to pound that loud. I would have thought she would be concerned about damaging her door. And she still hadn't left yet.

The knocking continued.

_Man, she is stubborn_, I thought. After about five minutes of knocking, or at least, that's what it felt like, the door opened a crack. _Thank goodness,_ I thought. _She's finally given up trying to be polite. It's not really her style anyway._

The door opened wider, and in stepped Uncle John. He came in and shut the door tightly behind him. He looked confused to see me sitting on the bed eyeing the entrance to my room warily.

I pulled off my headphones brushing off the wariness and surprise as nothing. Taking time to school my features in nonchalance, I said, "I didn't hear you knock."

He sat down on the end of the bed looking just as jittery as I felt. "I was wondering if you wanted to come to work with me tomorrow." I could tell he was really nervous, his eyes shifting around the room, looking everywhere but at me. He hesitated as though not sure of how to continue after I didn't give him an answer immediately, "You could meet my friends and coworkers. Maybe we could enroll you in school afterwards."

I was trying hard not to let it show I had figured out his little scheme. He wanted me to get settled. I wanted that; I wanted to stay here with him, but somewhere in the back of my mind I was still holding out hope my family would come back for me even though it had already been almost a month. As indifferent as they were, they were still my biological family.

So I stalled saying, "I'll only go if we can enroll in school next week. I don't think I'm quite ready yet."

Still Uncle Carter persisted; he wanted me to be comfortable in this new environment. He wanted me to feel at home. "'But if you come to work with me, you'll be able to find out which of my coworkers are friends and which aren't." He was avoiding the subject of school, just as I was. Both of us knew what was happening but chose not to acknowledge it. Confrontation was neither of our strong suits.

**And to be honest it still isn't. Though after the chaos I've been introduced to and had to deal with, I've developed a better handle on asserting my opinions. Dealing with my family is a bit like defusing a bomb; you deal with things carefully but directly. At this point in my life, I was still used to being the person who was walked over and told what to do. I hadn't yet acquired the skill of being able to put forward and validate what I was saying while being able to bring someone around to my point of view. Which in a family like mine is a handy skill to have. **

**Back to the story.**

At this point, I was attempting and partially failing to assert myself. But my uncle was doing just as horribly, not knowing how to handle as teenager. He sat there listening, not really responding just sitting there on the edge of my bed taking in what I had to say. "Uncle John, I think I could tell which co-workers are your friends and which aren't just by the pictures you've shown me and the stories I've heard," I said blowing a hole in my uncle's argument.

Carter's eyes went wide. He could tell he was trapped in a corner, and I could tell I was wearing him down. I thought we were at a stalemate, but then he caved, "All right, but we are definitely enrolling next week. You need to get ready if you are going to be staying here long-term."

I ignored the long-term part of this sentence and the part about school. I loved my uncle and his house, but I was still focused on my old life and my old friends."Okay," I agreed skeptically.

Carter got up from the end of my bed; conversation finished. He turned at the door to say one more thing, "Now get some sleep. If you're going to come with me tomorrow, you have to be up bright and early."

I put on my PJs, set my alarm clock, and curled up in my comfortable bed, once again amazed at the direction my life was heading. My bed was huge, and I was finally going to meet the best people in my uncle's life.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX **

My eyes popped open in surprise. I had just awakened to the sound of Rascal Flatts blaring in my ears. "What time is it?" I mumbled to myself. I rolled over to look at my alarm clock disoriented. It was 5:00 A.M. I rubbed my eyes and tried to remember why I had set my alarm clock so early.

Then it clicked. I was going to work with my uncle John today. I got dressed in record time and went downstairs. He was already in the kitchen wide-awake sipping some coffee.

Though I physically appeared ready to go, my demeanor projected entirely different attitude. Despite the fact I had rushed down the stairs, once I saw John in the kitchen that awake, the earliness of the morning really hit me. I came into the kitchen with a scowl on my face and my eyes only open half-mast.

"What's the matter?" Uncle John asked in mock concern, knowing full well what was wrong. "You not a morning person?"

"No," I scowled at him. "I usually get up at 6:00 A.M."

"Wow, an hour difference. So what?" he said, and I could see the smirk on his face behind his coffee.

"An hour makes a lot of difference. Plus, it's summer, which means I don't have to get up for anything," I said maintaining my scowl.

"Oh," he said catching on, rolling his eyes in the process. "You're a fan of the whole girls need their beauty sleep thing, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I need my sleep."

"Here," Uncle John said sliding his cup of coffee toward where I had laid my head on the counter, "This'll wake you up."

"No thanks," I said turning him down with a shake of my head, grimacing at the thought of the bitter liquid.

"That's what I thought," Emily stated matter-of-factly with an air of well-acquired knowledge. "See I told you, Mr. Carter. Here, take this instead," she insisted setting a cup of hot chocolate next to my head.

Groggily, I grabbed the cup of hot chocolate and sipped it, grateful for the warmth and the sugar.

"We better get going. Good-bye Emily," Uncle John said as he grabbed a to-go mug of hot coffee off the counter before heading out the door.

Not realizing we were leaving soon, I grabbed the mug of hot chocolate Emily had given me. I recognized a to-go mug in my hand as well. I was glad Emily had talked Uncle John into giving me hot chocolate. I really didn't like coffee much. I had tried it once and didn't really like the taste. "Are you ready to go?" he asked anxiously waiting at the door to the garage, actually garages, plural, holding my coat as I put on my shoes. "I want to show you some of Chicago before we head to the hospital. We can stop for breakfast as we go. That way, it will be all the more fun." He looked at the clock on the wall next to the cupboards. It was now twenty to six.

I yawned, "If I ever wake up."

Uncle John just laughed pulling me behind him out the door, "Come on." He climbed into his jeep, unlocking the passenger door, "Get in."

We drove around Chicago for about an hour looking at the sites. Uncle John took me to: many of his favorite places: he showed me the EL, the bridge where all the most important conversations of his life had taken place, and his actual apartment. We stopped and got breakfast in the park at a croissant stand and wandered around for a while finishing our croissants. There was an ice skating rink, which I wanted to try when there was snow.

As I turned back from gazing out the window taking everything in outside the park as we drove away, Uncle John looked at his watch. Seeing the paranoid look on his face, I glanced down at the clock on the dash. It was 6:50 AM.

While this had no meaning for me, my uncle's expression turned worried. "Oh, shit," he said peeking at me before turning his eyes back to the road.

"We'd better get going or we're going to be late," he said putting on the gas. We arrived at the hospital ER at 7:00 AM on the dot. My uncle slipped in, eyes scanning the ER. It was a slow day. I could tell because at the admissions' desk about five to seven people were just standing around talking.

A female doctor with blonde hair came over to us from the group. "Carter, you are so lucky it's slow, and Weaver's not here right now, or she'd have your head."

From what Uncle John had told me about Dr. Weaver, I was glad I hadn't made my uncle late.

But he just laughed it off smiling charmingly at the woman, "I know, I know, Susan. One of these times she will have my head. For something I didn't do. But this time, I have a completely legitimate reason for it. Susan, I want you to meet the reason I was almost late." The blonde doctor hadn't noticed me until now, half-hidden behind my uncle. "This is my niece, Jackie Kohl."

She smiled, "Hi, I'm Susan Lewis. I'm a good friend of your uncle's."

With that, she and my uncle pulled me toward the group of people by the admissions' desk. Now that I was closer, I could see there were four doctors in the group and two other men I assumed actually worked at the desk. My uncle turned to me, "I want you to meet some people." He turned around and began introducing the people in a clockwise manner. He started with a doctor whose nationality I couldn't place. "This is Dr. Luka Kovac." Next was an Asian-American doctor, "Dr. Jing-Mei Chen." Two African-American doctors were next in the circle. Carter started with the older one, "And Gregory Pratt and Michael Gallant." He turned to the two men I had assumed were the clerks, "And last and certainly least, these two goofballs are: Jerry and Frank. You don't need to know their last names. I don't even think anyone here knows their last names except maybe Dr. Weaver. I you need anything just ask them," he said reaching under the desk for a lab coat.

"Thanks, Carter," Jerry said sarcastically even though he was smiling. "And you know that's not supposed to be there."

"It's nice to meet you all; I'm Jackie, John's my uncle. But Dr. Kovac, I couldn't place your nationality. Where are you from?" I was curious to find out more about my uncle's co-workers, these people whom he called his friends.

"I'm from Croatia. It's a country near Austria, and please call me Luka." Dr. Kovac didn't seem at all surprised or offended at the question.

"That's cool." I said moving on to my next target. "Where are you from Dr. Chen?" My curiosity was getting the better of me. "I'm from China, and I'd prefer if you called me Dr. Chen."

Pratt butted in, "I'm Greg and you can call him Mike." I was unsure of Greg's cocky attitude and Mike's quiet demeanor.

But I warmed up to them a little more when I heard Dr. Gallant whisper, "It's Michael."

My uncle wandered over from where he had gone to talk to another group of people who had just come out of what I assumed was the break room as they all had cups of coffee in their hands, my uncle looked properly dressed for a day of work, "I want you to meet some more people."

My eyes widened at the prospect of remembering all these names. I was already having trouble keeping everyone straight, and I had only met six people. I would have to go home and study using my uncle's photo album.

Behind him was the group he had been talking to. There were two surgeons, which I recognized by their blue scrubs, and another ER doctor in green scrubs. "This is Dr. Peter Benton," Carter said gesturing toward the African-American surgeon. "And his fellow surgeon, Dr. Elizabeth Corday. And her husband, Dr. Mark Greene." These were all names I had heard before many, many times, especially those of Benton and Greene. They wouldn't be hard to remember at all. Though, I was already forgetting some of the others who had drifted back to their own jobs.

The introductions were interrupted when short, bald doctor came toward the desk fuming, "What is this, a circus or an ER? Would you get your lazy asses back to work?"

Uncle John whispered, "That's Dr. Robert Romano, the scourge of the ER."

Corday whispered, "He's also a surgeon, so everybody gets their daily dose of Robert."

My uncle took a deep breath and hollered across the ER, "Hey! Dr. Romano! This is my niece, Jackie!"

Romano whipped around looking pissed, "Carter, unless she's deathly ill or seriously injured I don't care!" "Why aren't you people working? This is an ER, not a gossip hall."

A red-haired woman with a crutch made a beeline straight for Dr. Romano. "Robert, what's going on here?" She glared at him as though the grouping at the admissions' desk was all his fault.

"I got it under control, Kerry. I was just making these lazy bastards get back to work," Romano said making it clear he was attempting to break up the so-called party.

Dr. Greene leaned toward my ear, "That's Dr. Kerry Weaver, the ER bitch."

"Mark!" Uncle John looked appalled, still whispering, though this one was sharper than the rest.

Dr. Greene shrugged. "What? If I didn't tell her someone else would have, and she's already heard Romano. It can't get much worse than that. And besides, I know teenagers, so I know she's heard worse."

"It's okay, Uncle John. It's true; I have heard worse." At this statement, Carter looked even more shocked than he already was, if that was possible.

"As I was starting to say," Dr. Greene interrupted. "I have a daughter about your age who's staying with me for a while."

Dr. Benton decided to put in a word, "I have a four-year-old son she baby-sits sometimes, Reese. If she couldn't baby-sit sometime, would you like to?" I could see Uncle John out of the corner of my eye shaking his head vaguely at Dr. Benton. I'm sure he thought maybe that was too much for me to handle. All the names I had to remember plus offers to hang out and baby-sit. He probably thought it was too overwhelming because all I had been doing up to this point was sitting at home keeping myself occupied with books, movies, and puzzles while he was at work.

But Uncle John wanted me to get involved and start a new life, and I was ready to meet new people as evidence by the fact I came to work with my uncle, and I loved little kids. _Now is as good a time as any to start over, _I thought, so I answered Dr. Benton's question with a quick "Sure," and turned back to Dr. Greene, "Could I meet your daughter?" Since slightly embracing the idea of starting over, I was eager to attempt to create a new friendship.

"I know I don't mind, and I'm sure Elizabeth doesn't either. Do you like spaghetti and meatballs?" I nodded as he continued, "Then you'd have to ask your uncle if he would bring you over for supper tonight."

"Can we please, Uncle John. Pleeeeease," I turned my puppy dog eyes toward him in an effort to once again make him cave, but he was distracted by a woman with dirty-blonde hair and brown eyes coming toward us. I watched as the woman came nearer. There was only one person left in the ER for Carter to introduce me to, the person I had been waiting all day to meet. The one person whose name I would never forget. The one person, who had to be one of the most extraordinary people in the world to gain all of my uncle's attention and affection.

_She must be Abby_, I thought. This was my uncle's girlfriend he talked about non-stop. The one person who had been in: picture after picture and story after story.

She came up beside us and broke me out of my daze, "Jackie, this is my girlfriend, Abby Lockhart. Abby, this is my niece, Jackie."

"Nice to finally meet you," I said. "I've heard so much about you."

"Same here," Abby replied. "I've heard a lot about you, too," she winked at me. We both turned toward Uncle John smiling sneakily, and he blushed.

I glanced at Abby and giggled. _We're going to be good friends_, I thought.

While we had been introducing ourselves, a blushing Carter, which is what I had noticed all my uncle's co-workers referred to him as, only Abby and Dr. Chen called him John, had been talking to Dr. Greene. Doctors Benton and Corday had also drifted back to work. The men looked up from the conversation Uncle John questioned me, "So do you really want to go to the Greene's for supper tonight?"

"Yes. Can we go please, Uncle John?" I begged. I really wanted to make a new friend. As much as I loved my uncle, I wanted to hang out and explore the city with someone my own age.

Abby glared at Carter impatient and as though she couldn't believe my uncle was making me squirm in anticipation of his answer, "Oh just tell her, and stop teasing the girl, John."

"Of course we can go." He smiled giving Abby a kiss on the cheek, probably something they weren't supposed to do on the clock, but no one else was around, and Dr. Greene didn't seem to mind and the desk clerks were occupied shuffling through charts, "Abby's coming, too. If that's all right with you," he quickly added as though unsure of how I would react to this additional information.

"Carter! You lazy son of a bitch get back to work!" Romano was back.

"I've got to go." He gave me a hug and then turned to the desk. "Like I said before, if you need anything just ask Jerry Markovic or Frank Martin," he winked after saying their last names. "You can hang out up here with Jerry and Frank for a little bit or head to the break room," he said pointing to the room Doctors Greene, Corday, and Benton had come from earlier. "If you don't need anything, try to hang out in the break room more. There's a TV in there, and there are also a few of your books in my bag. Otherwise if it's not too busy, you can keep Jerry and Frank company as long as you don't get in their way, so they leave us people who actually work alone."

"Hey!" Frank was annoyed. "We **do** work. Just because we're not saving people's lives doesn't mean we're not important."

"Got to go," Carter said as Romano circled around again, this time followed closely by Weaver. My uncle sped off, since the other doctors had trickled back to work. I talked and helped Jerry and Frank for awhile. Then I made my way to the break room, where I took a short nap on the couch to help digest all the excitement of the morning.

Throughout the day, I mostly read or watched daytime television. I also doodled and explored the break room, not that there was much to explore. Other doctors and nurses were in and out of the break room getting coffee or bagels or whatever was theirs out of the fridge. I didn't even bother trying to keep them all straight just said I was John Carter's niece when they asked who I was and why I was in the ER break room. The only person who sat down and talked to me was a bigger African-American lady, who after I told her who I was scooped me up into a big bear hug and ruffled my hair out of its ponytail. She said her name was Haleh, and I knew this was the woman who had been like a mother to my uncle all the years he'd worked here.

Despite the time going fairly quickly, I couldn't wait until Uncle John and Abby got off work. Just as Haleh was leaving, Uncle John came into the break room, and she gave him a hug as big as the one she'd given me. Seeing my uncle, excitement overwhelmed me, but he had only come on his lunch break to take me to Doc Magoo's.

After lunch, I spent the rest of the day keeping myself occupied in the break room while excitement and anticipation for the evening built up. Until, by the end of uncle's shift, I was ready to explode.

If my uncle and I were bound and determined to start a new life, we'd have to begin somewhere. I felt like we were Jean Valjean and Cosette embarking on new adventures together. And dinner with the Greenes would be the first.


	4. Spaghetti and Meatballs

Disclaimer: Love Carter and the gang, but they're not mine. If they were I would be in heaven not writing fan fiction.  
  
Chapter 4- Spaghetti and Meatballs  
  
Abby and Carter got off at 5:00 P.M. We went to Carter's house and changed. Then we piled into the car and went to Greene's. Carter was turning into a parent, "Now remember," he told me. "The Greenes are really good friends of mine so be nice."  
  
"No problem," I answered. "I like them already."  
  
"Carter quit giving her a hard time. She'll do fine," Abby scolded. By then we had pulled up into the Greene's driveway. We walked up the walkway, and Carter knocked on the door.  
  
Mark, Dr. Greene, opened the door, "Hello, come on in." He opened the door wider. Elizabeth was standing right behind him. We walked into the house. I looked up around the house. It was beautiful, the stairs were right in front of the door. To the right was the kitchen, and to the left was the living room.  
  
I had just noticed that Elizabeth was holding a baby. She's not my age I thought.  
  
Elizabeth said, "This is Ella." We walked in a little farther and I could smell the spaghetti simmering on the stove.  
  
"Dad, when's supper?" a girl about 13 came down the stairs.  
  
"Rachel, this is Jacque. Jacque, this is Rachel," Mark introduced us. We hit it off right away. We ran up the stairs and Rachel showed me her room.  
  
"This is my room," Rachel turned to me. "What do you think?"  
  
"It's great," I said. "I'd really like to get to know you better. Maybe you could help me get to know the ER staff better, too."  
  
"Yeah, no problem. You know, what I like you. Some of the ER staff is hard to understand and get along with. But believe me I know, but the rest is easy to get along with," Rachel giggled. "Trust me on this one. I'll tell you more about Romano later."  
  
"Okay maybe, we could get to be friends," I smiled at her.  
  
"What do you say we get together after school sometime?" she suggested.  
  
"Yeah," I agreed  
  
"Girls, supper's ready," Mark called up the stairs. We ran down the stairs and the sweet smell of spaghetti floated toward us. We ate supper. I had never tasted English spaghetti before. Then the adults talked for a while. Rachael and I went back to her room.  
"Do you want to go rollerblading sometime?"  
"Sure, how's next Monday?"  
"That works. Why don't you meet me after school, and I can show you around. You're enrolling here aren't you?  
"Yeah, Carter and I are going to enroll next Tuesday."  
"That's great. You can maybe meet my friends, and I can give you a tour of the school."  
"Jacque! It's time to go!" Carter yelled up the stairs.  
"Ok," I ran down the stairs with Rachel close behind. "I'll see you next week." Carter and Abby looked at me as I got in the car.  
"I guess you made a new friend," Carter looked at me again. I couldn't stop smiling.  
"Yeah," I answered. "We're going rollerblading on Monday after she gets done with school. She said she'd show me around, so I was kind of hoping we could enroll after I get a look at the school. Which would be next Tuesday." 


	5. Unexpected Friend

Disclaimer: Love Carter and the gang, but they're not mine. If they were I'd be in heaven, and not here writing fan fiction.  
  
Author's Note: I picked Gallant because Carter is my favorite, but he's already in the story and Gallant is closest to Jacque's age. AN2: Sorry it took so long, my computer's been down, and I have to get ready for a competition.  
  
Chapter 5- Unexpected Friend  
  
That night when we got home after I had gotten ready for bed Carter came in. "Jacque, I was wondering if you wanted to volunteer at the ER to help Jerry and Frank with errands."  
  
"Sure, it's not like there's anything else to do, without school," I stated kind of sarcastically.  
  
"That's great," he said as he started to leave.  
  
"Wait, Uncle Carter," he stopped in the doorway.  
  
"Yes," he turned.  
  
"Can I still keep the job after I start school?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
I started my job the next day. Frank and Jerry made me run everywhere. I did get a few breaks throughout the day, and I really started making friends with the doctors. Especially Gallant. Most of the time when he had a break I had a break at the same time. So we would talk about anything: his being in the army, his family, school, and other things. We specifically avoided the topic of my family. Carter was basically my family, and Gallant knew him pretty well so it didn't pay. I had been working at the hospital for four days. We walked out to behind the ambulance bay to talk. "What's new?" Gallant looked at me. For the past four days we had been getting to know each other very well.  
  
"Nothing," I said.  
  
"Well, what do you want to talk about? We could talk about writing."  
  
"Sure."  
  
" What are you writing now?"  
  
"I am writing a story about a girl who goes to Europe for the summer."  
  
"Sounds cool. Tell me more."  
  
"Well, she goes to visit her grandfather in Italy, and he gives her a job in his pizza place. Because..."  
  
"Jacque, why don't you give Gallant a break for a while," Carter came walking out he didn't see Gallant. Carter thought Gallant went to get coffee.  
  
"Gallant was right behind Carter, "I don't mind. I like talking to her. We have a lot in common."  
  
Carter turned his head from side to side trying to figure it out, "What on earth could a 19-year-old army private trying to make his way to medical school and a 13-year-old 8th grade author possibly have in common?"  
  
"A lot more than you know!" I shouted and stomped off.  
  
Gallant was starting to boil over, "If you tried to understand her more. You would know what I mean! You don't even know her!" He immediately backed off, "I'm sorry Dr. Carter. I shouldn't tell you how to run your life."  
  
"You're right, Gallant. You shouldn't tell me how to run my life, but you're also right when you say I don't know my niece. Thank you Gallant," Carter came back into the ER where he found me sitting on a chair. "I'm sorry, Jackie, I didn't mean to yell at you, I've just had Romano yelling at me all day, and I guess it gets to me sometimes," he hugged me tight, and then pulled back. "Do you have a fever?" he asked concerned. I realized I had forgotten to tell him that earlier that day, I had taken some Ibuprofen because I didn't feel good. I didn't tell him because I had taken the Ibuprofen and felt better.  
  
"No," I told him. "I'm just hot from working so much."  
  
"Alright," he agreed skeptically. "Go home. I'll check on you later."  
  
"Slight problem, Uncle Carter. How do I get home?" I was beginning to see a glitch in his plan.  
  
"Drive, of course," he answered looking at me like it was the most obvious decision in the world.  
  
"Uncle Carter, I'm in 8th grade. I can't drive."  
  
"No problem, we'll just find someone who's going on break right now. Okay," he said looking around. "It looks like you have two choices: Abby or Chen."  
  
"Abby," I replied without hesitation. Chen kind of freaked me out a little.  
  
"Abby," Carter called. Abby walked over from where she was just headed out the door.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Would you mind giving Jackie a ride to the mansion? She wasn't feeling the best. I know it's cutting into your break, but I really don't think she should stay here. You could even take my jeep," he said tossing her the keys.  
  
"Yeah, sure. Your house is on the way to the coffee shop anyway."  
  
"Thanks," Carter breathed a sigh of relief. "Could you make sure to tell Emily to make sure she gets some sleep." Abby and I laughed at Carter as we got into the car.  
  
"He's right, girl. You don't look so good. Are you okay?" Abby looked just as concerned as Carter had.  
  
"I'm fine, Abby," I countered once again. "What is it with you medical people?"  
  
"Your uncle's not here anymore. You don't have to pretend that you're fine," Abby gently consoled.  
  
"I'm fine," I insisted. Why don't adults ever believe anything kids say? Even if they don't have kids they still don't see things our way. And they think just because they're in medicine they know everything I thought.  
  
"Fine be that way," Abby retorted. Just then we pulled into Carter's driveway. "Okay, where's some soup?" Abby asked.  
  
"What do you want soup for?" I asked curiously.  
  
"That's what I always have when I'm sick. I'm guessing it's in the kitchen," she opted because she had been to the mansion before. She pulled me to the kitchen right behind her. She made chicken soup and gave me a bowl. I slowly picked at it, filling up the spoon, and dumping the soup back in the bowl. I wasn't really hungry. I felt like anything I would eat would just come back up. Abby didn't notice, so when she went to find Emily I dumped the soup down the garbage disposal. After five minutes she came back in with Emily. "You look beat," Abby noticed. "You should get some sleep."  
  
"Yes," Emily agreed. With a little help from the two ladies I made my way upstairs. The minute I hit the bed I was out. "I think Mr. Carter was right," Emily commented.  
  
"I think so, too," agreed Abby. "She really does look sick. Would you make sure she sleeps more than just ten minutes? If she doesn't Carter would have my head," Emily nodded.  
  
"He would have mine, too, Miss Abby," Emily agreed.  
  
When I woke up it was 8:00 P.M. I started to sit up but realized that my headache from earlier that day had come back with a vengeance. Carter must have heard the noise, even though I didn't think I was making any. In two minutes, probably less, he was up the stairs and in my room with a cool washcloth. I lay back down because I couldn't stand the pain pounding on the back of my eyes any longer. It wouldn't have mattered if I lay back down or not because Carter pushed me back down. I moaned a little that quick change in altitude had done nothing to help. Carter noticed. "Did I hurt you?" there was concern in his voice. Something I had never heard from a parental figure before.  
  
"No," answered. "I had a headache earlier, and now it's come back to haunt me."  
  
"I suppose this fever isn't helping much," he said removing the washcloth and placing his hand where it had been.  
  
"Not really," I smiled though the pain. "Today's Friday, so today won't have any effect on Monday will it?"  
  
"Not if you hurry up and get better by then," Carter gave me a suspicious look. "What are you getting at?"  
  
"If I'm not, can I still go?" I really wanted to meet Rachel's friends.  
  
"Not if you still look like this!"  
  
"Oh, come on. You're no fun," I pouted. I had hit a nerve, and I knew it. Carter was my favorite relative. I just really wasn't used to people taking care of me and actually caring about what happened to me. "I'm sorry, Carter," I said voicing what I had just been thinking. "It's just that I've never had anyone else care about me the way you do."  
  
"Are you hungry?" Carter asked.  
  
"A little," I answered. "Do you have any soup?" I figured that he didn't need to know about earlier that day. "Can I go with you to work tomorrow?"  
  
"Not if this is a sign of things to come," Carter was firm.  
  
"Who are Jerry and Frank going to get to run their errands for them?" I asked knowing I had a point.  
  
"I guess those two lazies will have to off their asses and do it themselves," he smiled at the thought of Frank running the six staircases, four floors, up to the lab. Knowing him he'd probably take the elevator, and if somebody yelled at him for it he'd say that's what they're there for. "I'll go get the soup. You stay here." Five minutes later he came back with what was left of Abby's soup. I ate a few small bites and lay back down. 


	6. Blackout

Chapter 6- Blackout  
  
Disclaimer: Love Carter and the gang, but they're not mine. If they were I'd be in heaven not here writing fan fiction.  
  
Authors Note: Most of it is from Carter's POV.  
  
"I think I'm going to go back to sleep now," I muttered before letting out a loud hacking cough. I closed my eyes and tried to get back to sleep, but the cough was persistent and wouldn't let me. I felt some cool water run passed my lips. Then I felt the cool washcloth being placed back on my forehead. "What are you doing?" I mumbled hoarsely to Carter. I curled up in a little ball as Carter began to stroke my hair. I soon fell asleep to the silent stroking of his fingers as my cough subsided. When I woke up it was early Saturday morning. Where is everyone? I wondered listening hard for the noise that was usually humming by the time I was awake. I tried to pull myself into a sitting position and found myself barely able to turn my head. I pulled it as far as I could off the pillow; which was just enough to see that Carter had fallen asleep on the window seat. I watched as Carter began to stir. I said, "Good morning," but nothing came out. "Carter," I whispered hoarsely.  
  
Carter woke suddenly as though he had heard my voice even though I knew he couldn't. He walked over to the bed. "How are you feeling today?"  
  
"Like shit. Can I sleep all day so this thing will go away so I can go rollerblading on Monday?" my voice was slowly coming back to me.  
  
"Sure, but you should eat something."  
  
I grimaced, "I don't think I could keep anything down."  
  
"That's okay. Just rest." I want back to sleep. Carter stayed for a while.  
  
Carter looked at his niece as she slept. Something was very wrong with her. Carter knew he had to get her to the ER. As soon as he could tell she was completely asleep he picked her up and walked downstairs. He made sure his mother was nowhere in sight. He didn't want her to see him otherwise she would get on his case and start yelling. He didn't need her screaming at him this morning and waking Jackie up. If Jackie woke up she'd figure out where he was taking her and do everything she could not to go. Carter went out the door as quietly as he could. He went around back to where he had parked the jeep and put Jacque in the front passenger seat. He climbed in and drove as fast as he could to the ER. When Carter got to the hospital he took a short cut through the ambulance bay. "Susan! Susan!" he called the first doctor he saw. Carter shifted his still unconscious niece farther up onto his shoulder. "Susan!" Carter called again.  
  
"Who the hell?! What do you want?" Susan was pissed off. Everyone had been yelling at her all day, patients and doctors alike. She had had enough. She turned around to bitch out whoever had been yelling at her this time, but all she saw was Carter holding his niece. Susan thought this was a little strange. Then she noticed that the 13-year-old girl was unconscious. Her mouth fell open in horror, "Oh My God!!! Carter, what happened?"  
  
"She had a cold/flu thing going on for about two days. This morning she was too weak to get out of bed. I figured I'd better bring her in. I think her fever might be coming back," Carter was worried, he was a doctor and he didn't even know how to care for his own niece.  
  
"Good call Carter on both accounts. You should have brought her in earlier. Oh...." That didn't sound good. Carter was momentarily broken out of his daze. Susan had gotten a thermometer and taken Jacque's temperature.  
  
"What is it?" Carter was even more anxious.  
  
"Her temperature was 103.3."  
  
"Oh my gosh! Susan you have to do something." Carter worry was fast turning to panic.  
  
"Carter, calm down. You know the drill. I'm going to start an IV to give her some drugs to bring the fever down and get some fluids into her so she doesn't get dehydrated. If that doesn't work immediately I'm going to admit her. Carter," Susan waved her hand in front of Carter's face to bring him back out of another momentary daze. "I need you to get me some ice while I start the IV," Susan instructed.  
  
"Susan, I'm staying right here," Carter stated firmly.  
  
Susan at her wits end grabbed the closest doctor available, "Harkins."  
  
"Yeah, Dr. Lewis?" the young doctor turned smiling to get her next assignment from Dr. Lewis. Then the smile turned to a look of complete and utter horror.  
  
"I need some ice." Susan stated. We've got to cool her down soon, or she could become critical."  
  
"On my way, Dr. Lewis."  
  
"Carter, everything will be fine. We are going to help her," Susan said. She could see Carter was starting to crack. "Here's your ice, Dr. Lewis," Erin said coming back. "Good. Put some on her forehead, temples, and chest. But be careful she doesn't cool down too fast. That could be just as dangerous." As Erin placed the ice she tried to remember where she had seen the girl lying on the bed before. "Thank you, Susan," Carter breathed a sigh of relief. "She's not of the woods. We are going to have to admit her because she just won't cool down." "Are you sure? I mean it's just a fever." "Carter use your common sense. You're a doctor. You know why. A fever could be any number of things, and if we don't get her cooled down she'll start to seize." As soon as she'd said this Jackie had begun to seize. " Carter, she's seizing." Carter turned away; he couldn't bear to watch the body of someone he loved flop uncontrollably over the bed. "Erin, get me some diazepam," Susan practically screamed at the med student. Erin ran as fast as she could to the supply closet and came back with the drug. "Here Dr. Lewis." Erin watched as Susan injected the drug ten milligrams of the drug into the young girl's IV. Erin turned her head. Dr. Carter was just standing there. Why doesn't he do something, she thought. She didn't understand why he didn't help. He was more experienced than she was. After all she was only a med student; he was an attending. She watched as the body on the bed finally stopped jerking.  
  
"We need to get this girl upstairs before she seizes again," Susan managed to breathe. "Erin call upstairs and make sure they have a bed open and ready."  
  
Before she went to make the call Erin glanced back at Drs. Lewis and Carter. She could see Dr. Lewis trying to comfort Dr. Carter who looked like he was about to cry. Then Erin remembered where she had seen the girl before. This was Carter's niece. The one he had brought to the ER just days earlier. The one Erin talked on her break if she had time. Now that Erin understood why Dr. Carter was reluctant to help. She hurried off and made the call.  
  
After getting a glimpse of Harkins going to the reception desk to make the call she spun back around to face Carter. She handed him a bag of ice cubes, "John," she made sure he was looking at her and she had his full attention. "Can you hold this on her forehead while we take her up?" Susan asked unsure of how Carter would react.  
  
Carter nodded still in shock. He circled and followed Susan obediently into the elevator. He spoke for the first time in at least ten minutes. " Susan," he muttered.  
  
Susan looked up from where she had been checking vitals in shock and surprise, "Yeah, John?" "What's going to happen?" he gazed at her his brown eyes expectant.  
  
"You know. Standard procedure. CT Scan, EEG, MRI. If they don't find anything they'll keep her overnight for observation and send her home tomorrow." Susan explained this as though Carter was just another concerned parent of a peds patient. The elevator bell dinged, and Susan silently thanked God for breaking the awkward silence. The two doctors stepped out and Susan wheeled Jackie down to radiology to get the tests done. After she dropped the girl off she was about to back down to the ER when she felt a sharp tug on her arm. She whipped around to remove the culprit's hand.  
  
"Susan will you wait with me?"  
  
Susan faced the other doctor flabbergasted. Carter never asked anyone for help and never showed his emotions. He was immune to pain, but once again his chocolate brown eyes were trained on her to gauge her reaction. " Okay," she replied skeptically. "Are you sure you don't want me to get Abby for you?"  
  
"No there is no way she would be as calm as you are. She would just freak out," so Susan waited with Carter for an hour. Just as Susan looked at her watch a young radiologist came over.  
  
"I have some good news and bad news. The good news is Dr. Carter all the tests came back negative, and her fever broke while we were taking x-rays. The bad news is she had another seizure, and we don't still don't know what caused it or the fever. Although I'm guessing they have the same cause and source," the doctor finished.  
  
"What now?" Susan grilled the younger doctor expecting him to be intimidated so he would give them more information.  
  
"We'll keep her here overnight for observation incase she has anymore seizures. If everything goes well we'll send her home tomorrow."  
  
"Can I see her now?" Carter was anxious to see his niece was all right with his own two eyes.  
  
"Go ahead, room 423."  
  
As Carter ran down the hall Susan turned puzzled to the radiologist. "An ICU room?" she asked skeptically.  
  
"It was the only way to monitor her condition close enough," the radiologist's pager beeped. He turned and walked away. At the last minute he turned to Susan barely acknowledging her as he spoke, "I can only give more information to family." Knowing there was nothing more she could do the female doctor shook her blond mane and headed back to the ER.  
  
Carter spent the entire Saturday by his niece only getting up once to a coffee when the nurse checked the IV. Early Sunday morning Carter heard some shuffling. His chocolate brown eyes shot open only to be faced with at pair of aqua ones staring back at him. "Where am I and how long have I been here?" the aqua eyes were accompanied this time by a soprano voice.  
  
"Only a day and a half," Carter answered pushing the call button. A nurse came in and checked me over.  
  
"I'll have a doctor come check you over, but I'm pretty sure that you'll be able to go home today." A half-hour later Carter and I were walking out the door. Little did we know that these doors were going to become very familiar.  
  
When we got home Carter insisted that I do absolutely nothing. "Can I still go rollerblading tomorrow?" I asked him.  
  
"Only if you do nothing until you go." I nodded. "Promise?"  
  
"Promise."  
  
"Don't even think about pulling any tricks. I have the day off tomorrow, so I'll be watching you." 


	7. Laughter and Tears

Chapter 7-Laughter and Tears  
  
Disclaimer: Love Carter and the gang but they're not mine. If they were I'd be in heaven not here writing fan fiction.  
  
I stayed true to my word. All Sunday night and Monday morning I'd stayed in bed and did nothing. Monday morning I ate breakfast with Uncle Carter. Then he retreated to his study to work on some paperwork. I watched some TV (when Uncle Carter actually let me out of my room), read a little, and wrote some. I was going stir crazy from not going outside. Every few minutes I checked the clock. At about 2:00 P.M. I started going through the pantry looking for the snacks Emily had set aside for Rachel and me. I grabbed a deck of cards incase we decided to stop at a park or something. After I wrote some more of my story. By this time it was 2:45 P.M. I was supposed to meet Rachel at her school at 3:15 P.M. I had a half an hour to find school. Even though a half-hour was a pretty long time I had only been in Chicago for a couple weeks and had only been past the school once or twice. "Bye Uncle Carter!" I called in the direction of the study.  
  
"Hey! Come here for a minute!" Carter called back. "I want to talk to you."  
  
There goes another ten minutes, I thought. "Coming!" I called. "Be careful," Carter began to lecture me.  
  
"Carter I've been rollerblading before."  
  
"I know do you have snacks?" he asked quickly changing the subject.  
  
"Yeah Emily packed some for us."  
  
"Be careful," Carter said yet again. "Chicago can be very dangerous."  
  
"Carter," I said rolling my eyes. "I'm going with Rachel. She has experience. She's lived here all her life remember."  
  
"Let me finish. But more importantly have fun," he said smiling.  
  
"I will," I replied returning the grin.  
  
"I love you, have fun!" Carter called as I left.  
  
"I love you, too. Bye!" I returned over my shoulder. The minute I was out of the house I strapped on my rollerblades. I checked my watch; it was 2:55 P.M. I had 20 minutes to find the school. I remembered that the school was two blocks from the coffee shop, which meant that it was three blocks from the hospital. Once I remembered this it didn't take me long to get there. I was at the school by 3:05 P.M. I waited outside on a bench for ten minutes. The second the clock hit 3:15 P.M. I heard a bell ring and saw Rachel come down the steps with a group of six other people. They were deep in conversation. I waited until they were halfway to where I was standing and started walking towards them. At that point Rachel looked up. "Rachel!" I yelled as long as I could.  
  
This got her attention. She waved and dragged her friends over, "How was your day?"  
  
"Great," I told her sarcastically. "Other than the fact that I was going stir crazy because my uncle wouldn't let me do anything. The farthest he'd let me go was from my room to the living room. How was yours?"  
  
"Great," she answered sarcastically. "I only have three tons of homework. Oh," she remembered her friends who were still standing there waiting to be introduced. "Guys this is my friend Jacque Kuyoth. She just moved here from Wisconsin. Jacque this is the gang: Lindsey Koler, Julia Loupe, Angie Maalox, Max Jijaken, Andy Hanks, Justin Weirs, Danny Aster, and Ben Hooper."  
  
"Hi," I said enthusiastically trying not to let my nervousness show.  
  
"Hey," the gang said in unison. I talked to the gang and got to know them a little better. Then Rachel checked her watch.  
  
"Jacque we'd better get going if we want to be home by 7:00 P.M."  
  
"Where are you guys going?" the boy whose name I thought was Danny asked.  
  
"We're going rollerblading after I show Jackie around the school because she's enrolling here." I took off my rollerblades and pulled out the shoes I had stowed in my bag and slipped them on. Rachel and I started walking toward the school. The gang followed.  
  
"Rach, we could help you show her around," a boy with bright red hair who's name I was sure was Justin commented.  
  
The group agreed hurriedly.  
  
"Are you sure?" Rachel asked.  
  
"It's not like we have anything else to do," Lindsey put in flipping her long brown hair. "I mean we don't have that much homework."  
  
"Okay, why not," Rachel looked at me to confirm this statement. I nodded. "Let's get started." Rachel started back into the school and down a hall. "There's the art room, science room, and French room." We turned down another hall. Rachel and her friends broke off into pairs. I noticed that Ben had hung back. Rachel continued to talk, but I tuned her out to a point. I still listened, I focused more of my attention on Ben because he looked so lonely. I was interested in Ben and why he didn't hang out with the rest of the group. I hung back as well and started to strike up a conversation.  
  
"Hi, Ben. How's it going. I didn't get to really talk to anyone much before, but I was kinda wondering why you aren't hanging out with the rest of the group?"  
  
Ben let out a dry laugh, "Oh that one's easy. You see they're all dating, and I don't have a girlfriend so I'm just the extra wheel, you know. I don't need a girl, but would be nice to have one. Even though I'm kind of a loner it would still be nice to hang out with the group once and a while and not just have to watch the others hanging all over each other."  
  
"Hey it's no big deal I understand. I had friends back in Edgar who were dating, and it was the same way because I'm not dating anyone either. It's not the worst thing it the world. I don't always have some guy hanging off me, and I don't have to worry about some guy being jealous if I talk to another guy either. I also get to be alone when I want to and make my own decisions. I get to be independent," I stated matter-of-factly.  
  
"Well, when you put it that way I'd have to agree." We continued to talk about anything. I carefully avoiding the subject of my family. Ben showed me the rest of the classrooms because Rachel and co. had drifted so far ahead of Ben and I that we couldn't hear them anymore. I looked at my watch. It was already after four. I spotted Rachel up ahead in front of some lockers where she and the others had stopped to talk. Ben and I ran over to the lockers.  
  
"Rachel we had better get going if we want to make it home by 7:00 P.M." Rachel stopped talking for a minute to glance down at her watch.  
  
"Oh my gosh!! Yeah we'd better. There's not much left to show you anyway." Ben and I laughed silently knowing that he had been the one who had shown me around the most. "See you guys tomorrow." Rachel told the gang as we strapped on our rollarblades and prepared to leave.  
  
"Are you coming again tomorrow after school?" Max asked as Rachel and I tighten our blades.  
  
"I suppose," I told him. "If I'm not doing anything. I could use some time away from my uncle. He makes a pretty bad guard dog." The group laughed including Ben.  
  
He looked me straight in the eye though and said, "I hope we see you tomorrow. It would be a lot of fun." I smiled at him as I gave the strap on my blades one last tug.  
  
"Bye!" Rachel and I called over our shoulders as we bladed off. As we rollerbladed farther and farther away from the school Rachel began to point out some of her and the gangs hangouts.  
  
"That's the pizza place where we always hang-out. There's an arcade in there too. We also hang-out at the coffee shop."  
  
"I'm not really a coffee person," I told her.  
  
"You don't have to drink coffee. They have tons of other stuff you can get to drink...pop, cappichino, whatever you want basically. Most of the time we don't usually get anything to drink anyway. We just usually sit and talk. I also go there sometimes to meet my dad when he works late because it's right across from the hospital. If you want to wait for your uncle there sometime maybe we could wait together."  
  
"Thanks," I replied as we bladed away from the coffeehouse.  
  
We bladed to a park just like I thought we would. "Where are we?" I asked. This was the park I had driven past with Uncle Carter that had the ice rink. I didn't know its name though.  
  
"This is Edgarian Square Park. One of the prettiest parks in Chicago, or so I think. This is the third place we come to hang out. We only come here if it's nice out though. It's great in the winter." We sat down on a bench, and I pulled out the snacks and the cards. As Rachel and I snacked on crackers and played War, she commented, "I think Ben likes you."  
  
"All your friends like me," I shot back not sure I liked where this was headed.  
  
"No! I mean like likes you. As a girlfriend," she persisted.  
  
"I guess I like him too," I answered and that was the end of that. The truth was that I did like Ben, but I still liked someone from my old school.  
  
"What time is it?" Rachel asked suddenly.  
  
"6:00 P.M. Why?" I was curious because Rachel seemed worried.  
  
"We should get going because I want to show you some more before we head home."  
  
"All right let's blow this popsicle stand!!" Rachel gave me a look like I was nuts. "It's my saying. My friends and I made it up at camp one time. I'll tell you about it some other time." Rachel and I sped out of the park. When we reached the sidewalk I bladed for the nearest bench. I felt dizzy and nauseous, like I was about to throw-up.  
  
"Jacque, are you okay?" Rachel's voice was dripping with concern.  
  
"I'm fine. I just got a little dizzy that's all. Maybe we should head home. I think the flu I had this weekend is coming back."  
  
"No problem. I'll show you the rest of the town tomorrow if you feel better. I'll help you get back to your uncle's house then I'll head home." In order to get to Carter's house we had to cross back the way we had come. The way we had come crossed an uncontrolled intersection that had no stop sign or anything. Most people didn't even slow down, and you had to cross when you could. Rachel and I quickly checked the street. Nothing was coming, so we bladed halfway across the road. We were looking at each other and talking as we bladed. That's why we didn't see it coming. It being a huge, red, Honda Accord. That's why we didn't blade fast enough to avoid it.  
  
I didn't feel anything. All I heard was a scream. Blackness crept into my vision; I wouldn't let it take me. I looked around for Rachel. Just before I gave into the blackness I realized the scream was mine. 


	8. Someone Familiar

Chapter 8- Someone Familiar

Disclaimer: Love Carter and the gang, but they're not mine. If they were I'd be in heaven not here writing fan fiction.

Author's Note: Hey everyone. I've been in school for weeks already, but have been banned from the Internet and computer on and off all summer. Now that school started I don't have much time. Sorry this chapter's so late. Hope you like it.

AN2: Switches POV a lot. Hope you can follow.

When I woke up I was lying on the ground. I tried to get up look for Rachel because I didn't see her anywhere. I couldn't get up and for a minute I wondered why. Then I blacked out for a few minutes from exertion. When I woke up again I heard sirens. I wonder what happened? I thought as I struggled to remember and listened to the sirens come closer. I tried to move my hand as I listened to the sirens because I wanted to see if I could move something other than my head which I could roll side to side. I could move my hand so I touched my face to make sure I could feel it. It was sticky. When I tried to wipe it off it came back red. Blood red. I thought. Whose blood? That's when I noticed that I was lying in a pool of blood. Where all the blood came from I didn't know, but was anxious to find out. I didn't have much time to dwell on it though because the next thing I knew I was being lifted on to a stretcher. Someone was asking me my name.

"Hi sweetheart." I could see a woman's face floating in front of mine. Next to hers was a young man of about twenty. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Jacque," I whispered. Figuring the lady wasn't going to give me any answers I turned my head slightly to face the young man. "Where's Rachel? What happened?"

"Holy shit. She doesn't remember. Should we tell her?" the man thought he was speaking quietly, but could still hear him.

"No," the lady said sharply. The ER docs can tell her if they choose to."

"She deserves to know," the man argued.

Neither of them had yet answered my question, and blackness was beginning to creep into my vision again. "Where's Rachel?" I asked again. Receiving no answer I let the darkness overwhelm me completely.

(AN: Changes to Carter's POV)

Meanwhile...

"Carter! Carter!" Carter was pulled out of his daze thinking about whether Jacque was having fun or not by a screaming Weaver.

"What?!" Carter asked annoyed. Did Weaver always have to yell at him? He wanted a few minutes alone was that too much to ask? Then he remembered where he was and whom he was with... yeah it was.

"Get your ass out here. We've got a multiple MVA coming in car verses pedestrians. Hit and run," Weaver screamed at him.

"And you need me why?" Carter asked sarcastically knowing there were at least four other attendings on duty other than him and Kerry. Kerry gave him a look that said she was ready to murder him when Mark walked in the room.

"Kerry what did you need?" Carter shot Weaver a death glare that said if you all ready called him why are you yelling at me? She ignored him and began to give Mark the bullet, " Multiple MVA car verses pedestrians. Hit and run."

"How many we got?" Mark asked.

"Two..." Carter shot Kerry another death glare along with a look that said that's it?! Mark started to give Kerry the same look when she continued, "You, Jing-Mei, and Harkins can take the second one. Carter, Gallant, and I will take the first one. Any questions."

"Thanks for volunteering me," Carter muttered under his breath.

"What was that Carter? Was it a question?" Mark knowing what Carter had said was glad Kerry didn't catch him.

"It was nothing." Carter mumbled.

"Good, cause here they come. Let's move people!" Kerry disregarded the incident and flowed right back into the swing of the ER. "What have we got?" she barked at the paramedics.

"13-year-old female looks like she took the least of the beating." If this girl took the least of the beating Carter hated to think what the other girl looked like. "Broken femur multiple contusions and abrasions. 10 centimeter laceration on the back of her scalp. Looks like she might need a couple of stitches

"What's open," Carter yelled at Jerry as they passed.

"Exam 3," Jerry yelled over his shoulder.

"Carter this is easy," Weaver told him. "You can handle it yourself. Gallant stay and observe." Even though she said that she followed them to Exam 3.

"You got that right," Carter mused finally getting a good look at his patient. "Where's all this blood coming from? It's everywhere." Carter stopped to shout orders. "I want a head CT, and femur X-ray. So..." he turned to the paramedics again.

"Oh, that's not her blood. That's her friend's blood," the woman paramedic answered.

"Yeah, that girl's blood was everywhere!" the guy paramedic added.

"Rachel," Carter said turning back to his patient, does it hurt anywhere else other than your head and your leg?"

"No I'm fine," the teenager answered. " Where's Jacque? Is she going to be okay?" Carter looked at the medics confused.

"The other girl in the accident."

"She should be okay," Carter told the girl not wanting to upset her and still not making a connection between his niece and her friend and the two teens in the MVA. "There's a great tem of doctors and nurses working on her. Haleh call Ortho and tell them we're sending up a broken femur. Gallant sew her up then send her upstairs."

Back to Jacque...

"Okay give me the bullet," Mark asked the paramedics.

"13-year-old female took most of the blow. Multiple abrasions and contusions. Blood coming out of places I can't even see. Stopped three of the bleeders, but can't find the rest. Losing blood fast we gave her ten units of O neg. in the ambulance. We also gave her 15 liters O2 by mask. BP 60/40 and dropping. Resps. 24 and dropping. Keeps dropping in and out of consciousness. Every time she comes to she asks about her friend who was in the other ambulance. "

"What's her name?" Mark asked.

"Jacque."

I heard a man's voice from a distance, "Hi, Jacque. My name is Dr. Greene. This is Dr. Chen and Dr. Harkins. We're going to help you as best we can. The first thing we're going to do is put a tube down your throat to help you breathe. Chen get ready to intubate." Mark shouted out orders, "I want a head CT, a chest film, CBC, Chem. 7, ultrasound. Abby call the OR. Tell them we need the first open OR."

I shook my head as hard as I could with the collar around my neck. "No. Not yet," I whispered.

"I have one more question to ask you before I intubate. Jacque do you have any family we can contact?"

Knowing my uncle was a doctor, and I was at a hospital. I knew he had to be here, or that they could get in to contact with him very easily I whispered, "Uncle Carter."

Chen gasped and Mark looked pointedly at Erin, " Harkins go find Carter NOW!!!"

"Why?" the med student asked confused. Dr. Carter had his own patient.

"This is his niece," Greene answered annoyed at the med student for wasting time.

"You mean that shy teenager that was here with Dr. Carter on Friday?" this was getting more confusing by the minute.

"The same. Oh my gosh!! Rachel!!"

"Dr. Greene are you all right?" Erin asked noting his shocked face.

Mark rounded on the nurse who had just walked in, "Abby, where did they take the other girl?"

"Gallant, Weaver, and Carter took her to Exam 3."

"HARKINS GET TO EXAM 3 AND FIND DR. CARTER NOW!!!"

Back to Carter...

(AN: I have Erin's POV in here so you can understand it.)

Erin raced through the halls sprinting past confused doctors, nurses, and patients. She was running away from the trauma room. Erin had no idea what Dr. Greene had meant. How could that bloody, chopped up little girl possibly be the same shy teenager hiding behind Dr. Carter that she had met on Friday. Erin burst through the doors of Exam 3. "Dr. Carter," she panted before attempting to try to catch her breath.

Harkins?! What are you doing in here? Aren't you supposed to be assisting Dr. Greene?!!" Weaver yelled as she and Carter were going out the door because all Gallant had to do was sew the girl up and send her upstairs for a cast.

"He sent me here to get Dr. Carter," she answered honestly.

"What does he want?" Carter's curiosity was getting the better of him. "It was one patient, and he already had three doctors. Why does he need another one?"

Erin was stumped for a minute. Then she quickly recovered. "He didn't say exactly. His exact words were: ' FIND DR. CARTER NOW!!!'" Erin didn't think it was her duty to inform Dr. Carter his niece was in critical condition and could very well die.

"Kerry you go ahead and see who's on the board. I'll be there in a minute. I'm just going to see what Mark wants."

"Hurry it up, John. There's other patients in this hospital," Weaver said strictly.

"I know, I know," Carter muttered as he swiftly followed the med student down the hall to the Trauma Room. He was about to go in when Harkins stopped him. "What's this all about?" Carter asked annoyed.

"I'll go get Dr. Greene," was Erin's only reply as she disappeared though the swinging door into the mess of doctors and nurses. "Dr. Greene, Dr. Carter is waiting outside."

"Chen, you take over this. Harkins, you take over Chen's suction. Ladies, let's see if we can't find the little girl and the laceration under all this blood."

Carter looked up to see Mark coming out of the Trauma Room's swinging doors dressed in a yellow disposable gown, gloves, and goggles covered in blood. "What is all this about Mark?" Carter asked trusting one of his best friends to tell him what was going on as he was tired of being kept in the dark. He was also annoyed that Mark had made him come all the way down here just to make him sit outside the Trauma Room and wait.

"Carter, you know the two girls that came in from the MVA this afternoon?" Mark asked his friend starting with a simple question.

Carter nodded not trusting himself to speak; then gaining confidence and voicing his opinion. Mark's tone was getting him worried. "Yeah, Gallant just finished sewing one up and sent her upstairs to Ortho. Why?" he asked not sure he wanted to here the answer.

" Carter, there's no good way to tell you this..." Mark was really getting him worried now because he was using Carter's name at the beginning of every sentence which he only did when he was agitated or worried.

"Come on Mark. Out with it already. I'm not a baby. Just spit it out," Carter was now exasperated torn between wanting to know and not wanting to know.

"They were Rachel and Jacque," Mark said simply turning his head toward the floor not wanting to see the reaction on his friend's face when the realization hit that what Mark was saying was true, and the teenage girl lying on the Trauma Room table covered in blood was one of his few family members that actually loved him. That was his niece who was almost like a daughter to him, and who in fact worshipped the ground Carter walked on ( hypothetically not literally).

"NO WAY!!" Carter screamed at his friend. "THE ONLY WAY THAT COULD BE TRUE WAS IF THE GIRL I HAD GALLANT SEW UP AND TAKE UPSTAIRS WAS RACHEL, AND THE GIRL YOU'RE WORKING ON IN THERE IS..." Carter glanced at Mark's blood covered gown. "OH MY GOSH!!!" Carter had gotten his first glimpse of the girl lying on Trauma Room table. "Mark you can't be sure," Carter accused.

Mark was having a hard time getting his friend to accept reality, but then again if it was his own daughter and roles were reversed he probably have a hard time accepting it too. He looked Carter straight in the eyes. "Would I ever lie to you? She asked for you specifically."

"It could be any patient that has ever been to the ER and has had me for a doctor or heard my name," Carter persisted on trying to prove Mark wrong, but in his heart he was pretty sure Mark was right.

"She said 'Uncle Carter'," the minute Mark said this he was sorry he had. Carter had to know the truth. This was the clincher. Reality slapped Carter hard in the face as realization hit him.

Carter glanced again at Mark's blood stained gown and then through the Trauma Room door. "OH MY GOSH!! MARK YOU HAVE GOT TO LET ME IN THERE NOW. PLEASE!! PLEASE!!" Carter begged.

"Carter, you've got to calm down," Mark grabbed his friend by the shoulder firmly to prevent him from going any further. "You can't let her see you like this."

"You're right," Carter muttered silent tears running down his face. "She's conscious?"

"She's in and out of consciousness."

"But consciousness is a good sign, right."

"Carter you've seen her just through the window. You've seen her injuries, and we don't even know the full extent yet ."

"What are you saying Mark?" Carter asked skeptically.

"I'm saying she needs surgery, but even if she gets it there is a good chance she may..." Mark stopped at the look of horror on his friend's face.

"Don't say it Mark."

"I'm just saying there is a possibility even with surgery that she could die," Mark said with finality.

"NO! MARK!! NO!! SHE CAN'T DIE! SHE WON'T DIE!"

"Carter, stop being ridiculous. You're a doctor, you know the risks," realizing he had just told his friend to stop being ridiculous over his basically daughter's possible death enveloped his friend in a hug. Mark could soon feel tears soaking his scrubs. He had taken off the gown during their argument.

"Can I see her before she goes up to surgery, Mark?" Carter asked wiping his tear-stained face with the back of his hand.

"Sure, Carter. We're just waiting on some tests yet before we send her up," Mark told him while pushing the Trauma Room door back open. "Don't let her see how worked up you are because then she'll get all worked up, and we both know that's not good for her injuries. So be very calm."

"I got it Mark."

"One more thing before you head in there. I thought you might want to know the extent of her injuries as far as we know them for now. Jing-Mei and Harkins are trying to find all the bleeders right now because we can't find because of all the blood. We're trying hard to stop the bleeding, but I think she's bleeding internally as well, but we won't know until we get an ultrasound."

Suddenly Erin burst through the door the look on her face ping-ponging back and forth between happiness and worry. " Dr. Greene. Dr. Chen found the biggest bleeder. A piece of glass is wedged in her side, right now it's keeping the blood in. If we take it out the bleeding won't stop and she'll die. She needs surgery now!"

"Carter, you heard her. Let's go," he said starting push open the door. "We're sending her up to surgery as soon as someone gets down here."

"Benton. Only Benton. I want him to perform the surgery. As long as he does it and no one else," my uncle insisted.

"Carter you know you can't be picky. Whoever does the surgery does the surgery. You can see her now. Come on. I'm going to call surgery and see if Benton is available. Carter, I have to warn you though that her blood pressure is low. 50/30. And there's blood everywhere."

"Just let me in, Mark. I've seen blood before." Mark wasn't so sure. Sure Carter had see blood before, he had never seen that much blood on someone he had knew or loved. Not since Lucy.

"Come on," he gave in finally pushing the door open the rest of the way. When he walked in he saw Haleh changing the empty bag of blood on the IV stand for a fresh one.

Carter followed. The first thing he saw was Deb. After she moved aside his eyes traveled to all the different machines. Lastly, they landed and settled on his niece. She was hooked up to all the machines his eyes had been roaming over. He had seen people hooked up to more machines than this and covered in more blood, but that had been impersonal. They had been the patients, and he had been the doctor. This was different this was family. His niece had been in one of her unconscious states when he had walked in, but now she was starting to wake up.

(AN: Switches to Jacque's POV)

I saw Carter's face floating inches from my own. " I sorry," I whispered. "I didn't mean to. I broke my promise. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. It doesn't matter," he reached for my hand. "Everything will be fine. You're going to be fine," he reassured me as he used his other hand to brush my hair out of my face. Carter's hand came back covered in blood. That's when I realized the pool of blood I had been lying in was my blood. "I found another one," he told Mark through tears. I didn't understand what he meant, or why he was crying. At least I think he was crying; though I wasn't sure. It could have just been my blurred vision. I blacked out again.

( AN: Switches back to Carter's POV.)

"Carter, Benton is the surgeon on call so he'll be down in a few minutes," Mark stated. "Jing-Mei! Have you cleaned off all that blood yet? Have you closed off all those bleeders yet?"

"Almost, and I've temporarily bandaged all the bleeders except the one with the big piece of glass in it because if I do she starts bleeding again. For now if I leave it alone it serves as a temporary clot. We're just waiting on the ultrasound so we can find the internal bleeder."

"Benton bringing it down with him in a couple of minutes when he comes to get her for surgery," Mark told her.

Benton burst through the door, "Okay. Give me the bullet. What have we got?"

"Thirteen-year-old female. Involved in a hit and run MVA. Multiple abrasions and contusions. She's on her 15th unit of O neg here and she had 10 on the ambulance. She's also had 30 liters of O2 by mask and we were just about to intubate her, but then you showed.

"Well intubate her," Benton shouted. "I've got the ultrasound. Let's see what I've got to work with. Benton glanced Jacque over. "What's that?" he asked eyeing the piece of glass.

" It's a piece of glass. Most likely from a windshield. It's wedged in her side temporarily clotting the bleeder."

" Intubate her while I see what's down here. Wait a minute," Benton asked noticing Carter for the first time. "Carter is this your niece?" Benton realized. Carter nodded unable to speak. Benton ran the ultrasound along Jacque's abdomen right next to the piece of glass careful not to touch it. "Whoa. That's a big bleed, and that piece of glass goes deep. Let's get her up to the OR now! Why did you wait so long to call?"

Carter turned his tear-stricken face toward Mark completely ignoring Peter, "Why do you have to intubate?" he asked. He didn't want a tube down his niece's throat.

Mark realizing the pain his friend was in put it simply, "She can't breathe, Carter. You can see that. We're just trying to help her that's all."

(Switches to back Jacque's POV)

I had just woken up again, but each time it was getting harder and harder to wake up. It was also getting harder to breathe. I looked up at my uncle watching his wavering face trying to get more oxygen. My uncle looked down at me finally realizing I was awake. "Don't intubate her yet," he stated. "It looks like she's trying to tell me something."

I nodded. Eventually between labored breaths I managed to squeeze out the words, "I love you." After that I slipped gratefully back into unconsciousness.

( AN: Switches back to Carter)

" I love you, too," Carter whispered as he noticed his niece had slipped away again. "She doesn't know that I love her. She didn't stay awake long enough to hear. She must think no one cares about her," Carter muttered to Mark. "You can intubate her now."

" She knows you love her, Carter. How could she not? She'll be fine, and you can tell her when she wakes up," Mark reassured as he pulled open the packets of instruments on the intubation tray and proceeded to intubate.

Carter next turned his tear-stricken face to Peter, "Help her, please, Peter. Help her."

" I'll try my best, Carter," he said noticing Carter's hand had slipped into Jacque's and he was stroking the back of her hand with his fingers.

" You'll be fine," Carter whispered to his unconscious niece even though she was unable to hear him. "Just hang on. Everything will be fine. Everything will be just fine," he whispered more to himself than anyone else.

" Tube's in," Mark looked up from where he had finished.

" All right then. Let's roll. Let's get this girl upstairs to surgery." Benton began to wheel Jacque out of the trauma room. Carter staying next to the gurney the whole time answering the questions Benton was firing at him left and right. "Does she have any other family?"

" No, I'm all she has left. The rest of her family abandoned her," Carter answered. "Peter will she make it through the surgery?"

" Umm," Peter was hesitant to answer.

" Peter, answer my question. Will she make it through surgery?"

" She should, but Carter you have to understand. She's lost a lot of blood and hasn't been able to breathe for at least the last half hour. Add that to her low BP; that might add up to her going into V-fib." Carter gasped. "But we'll try to keep that from happening." By this time they had reached the elevator. Benton walked in and pushed the button for surgery; Carter waited outside watching the door close. Then watching the numbers change.

When the elevator came back down he too pushed the button for surgery and proceeded to join his niece, whom he was already beginning to think of as a daughter. If she didn't make he didn't know what he would do, Carter thought as the elevator began to rise.

AN: Hope you like it. Please review it only gets better from here.


	9. Aftermath

Chapter 9- Aftermath

Author's note: Love Carter and the gang but they're not mine If they were I'd be in heaven not here writing fan fiction.

AN: Hey all! Did anyone see the season premier of ER. Totally cool and totally intense. Well enough chitchat. Back to the story.

AN2: Sorry it's late had computer problems and school and plays ( anyone see Wausau Community Theater's: _Once Upon A Mattress_? I was in that!

AN3: Whole chapter is from Carter's POV-sort of.

AN4: Sorry I lied there still's some more bad stuff

Carter watched the numbers change. At last he finally reached the surgical floor. He reached the surgical floor just in time to see the doors swing shut behind the last nurse following the gurney. He pushed the door open and followed her.

The nurse stopped. She thought she had heard footsteps behind her. As she turned she saw a man following her. " Excuse me, sir, but you can't be in here. You can't go any further, surgery personal only."

" I'm an ER doctor," Carter replied pulling his doctor's id badge out of his lab coat pocket. " I'm following a patient's progress."

" I'm sorry sir, but you can't be in here. Perhaps you could wait in the waiting room for the surgeon to inform you of the patient's progress?"

" I was asked by the patient's family to follow her through surgery."

" I really am sorry, but I have strict orders not to allow you to even go near the observatory window."

" This is all Peter's doing. Please let me in," Carter begged attempting to push his way through the second door. But for a young nurse the lady was quite strong. She must have been used to dealing with distraught parents, plus Carter wasn't putting up much of a fight. He knew if Benton had given the order he was only looking out for him. Eventually, she had gotten him out the door and back to the waiting room. There she took up a guard position making sure that Carter wouldn't try to get back in.

Chen had finally gotten a break by this time, and for her the elevator couldn't move fast enough. She couldn't even begin to imagine what her best friend was going through. She knew how much he loved that little girl. What he would do if anything happened to her Jing-Mei didn't even want to imagine. The elevator came to a grinding halt, and Chen ran out immediately skidding to a stop. Carter was standing in the middle of the hallway staring at the doors that she knew full well led to the surgery observatory window. She also saw a petite yet stern-looking nurse decidedly blocking the way. " I'll take it from here," she told the nurse nodding to Carter.

" You understand he can't go in there, right, miss?" the nurse clarified.

" I understand, now you can go back to doing your job. Thank you very much," she said as she enveloped in a huge hug. The nurse walked off in a huff to help assist with the surgery.

As Jing-Mei felt hot tears begin to soak her scrubs, she realized how odd this must look to staff passing by but muttered comforting words in Carter's ear anyway, " It'll be okay, John. It'll be okay. She's a strong girl. She'll make it through. She's gonna be just fine." To herself she thought, For your sake, God I hope so.

Carter managed to lift his tear-stained face off his best friend's shoulder and look into her eyes, "Oh God. Deb, how could I have let this happen? It's all my fault. I shouldn't have let her go. I shouldn't have…" Carter stopped and continued to sob.

" Oh no, John. It's not your fault. There was nothing you could have done to stop it. It was a drunk driver. Someone who should have never been out on the streets anyway. Just calm down. Come here," Carter followed as Chen led him to the hard plastic chairs situated along the wall.

" Deb, I failed. I was supposed to take care of her. I promised her nothing would ever happen to her," Carter slouched in the chair, his body a picture of defeat.

" Carter there was nothing you could have done. I'm sure she knows that. Don't be so hard on yourself," Jing-Mei said draping her arm over Carter's shoulders.

Carter suddenly turned on her, " I can't sit here and wait for them to come out and tell me if my niece is going to live or die. I have to keep busy. I can't stand the suspense. Wait here and tell me if there's any progress. I'm going back to the ER," consumed by grief Carter quickly stepped into the elevator as a nurse stepped out.

" John wait!" Deb called as the door clicked shut blocking her view of her best friend. She slumped in the chair now full of defeat.

Once the elevator had reached the ER Carter made a beeline for Kerry ignoring anyone and everyone who tried to ask him how his niece was, why he wasn't upstairs, or if he needed anything. " What do you need me to do?"

" Carter shouldn't you be upstairs waiting for Peter?" Kerry was confused as she had just watched the same man run out of her ER a few moments before overrun with grief and despair.

" I need to keep busy," he replied simply.

Romano walked over and patted Carter on the back," Yes, he's being a good boy. Not like the rest of you no counts in the ER running off whenever there's a family emergency. You all could take a lesson from him. This man has his priorities straight."  
" But Robert family has priority over work, and if you had one you'd know that."

" Family is a waste of time Kerry."

" No Robert it's not."

" That's enough," Carter screamed, " I don't need the two of you to run my life for me," turning towards Kerry his fist slowing gliding toward her face. She ducked allowing Carter's fist to skim the top of her flame-colored hair and smashing full into Romano's nose. Carter and Weaver heard a satisfying crack as Romano's nose broke. Realizing what he had done, and what Weaver had said was right, he turned and ran back towards the elevator almost also shattering Luka's nose as well trying to get into the elevator.

" You'd better run Carter 'cause if I catch you you're a dead man. Better yet I'll fire your ass so fast it'll make your head spin," bellowed Romano after him holding his nose which was still gushing blood.

Weaver turned to Romano, " No Robert. You will not as you so kindly put it, fire his ass. You deserved what you got, and I purposely ducked so he would punch you." Kerry walked off back to her patients leaving Romano holding his broken nose in his hands mouth hanging open in shock.

Carter rode the elevator silently willing the machine to move faster. Once he reached the surgical floor he discovered that Abby had left. Not knowing what else to do Carter began to pace. He looked at the clock every time he made a lap around the hallway.

Carter looked up and checked the clock for the 50th time. " It's already been an hour. How much longer is it going to be?" he muttered to himself.

Ding! Carter's head snapped to attention from where it had been draped in his hand's as he paced the floor. It's probably Elizabeth bringing up one of her patients from the ER, she has a break soon so maybe she and Mark went out for coffee between shifts. More than likely though it's Romano coming up to yell at me for giving him a bloody nose. For being such a bastard that guy is sure a wimp.

But to Carter's surprise Abby stepped out of the elevator, " Oh, my God Carter I just heard… is she going to be all right?" Abby had just found out from a very distraught looking Chen that Jacque had been in a MVA, Car vs. Pedestrians. She had just come into work and seen Carter sprinting toward the elevator. She was very confused until she saw Romano's nose bleeding profusely she thought she understood, up till she saw Jing-Mei coming toward her. Now Abby and Jing-Mei weren't the best of friends so when she came over to Abby with Carter nowhere in sight Abby figured something was wrong. Now she wrapped her arms around her boyfriend's neck. She would try to comfort him more than Jing-Mei. Jing-Mei had told Abby about the previous incident. Besides Carter was her boyfriend, shouldn't she be able to do better.

" I don't know. She's still in surgery, and the nurse wouldn't let me in. I think Peter told her not to let me in because he figured I would break down and just be in the way. I would have probably done the same thing in his position. He is with her so I know that she's in good hands. I still want to be with her though, is that so wrong?" Carter was venting his anger, " And don't try to tell me that everything's going to be all right because you don't know that! Anyway when Deb told me that I broke Romano's nose." Carter told her giving a bitter laugh.

Abby giggled trying to make Carter smile in spite of his predicament, " So that was you he was swearing at. Saying that he was going to fire your ass. He didn't care what was going on. He almost even decked Kerry, don't know why though."

I didn't work. Carter's mind was still on his niece. As Abby gazed at her tormented boyfriend. In the time she had known Carter there had only been one person who could calm him down after he like this and sadly it wasn't her. You would have thought Abby would have been jealous, but she knew she didn't need to be because that person was…Lucy. Abby knew she wasn't Lucy, but she had to try her best.

" John I'm not going to tell you everything's going to be all right because you're right, I don't know. But I do have very strong hope that Jacque will pull through. She a strong girl, John, you have to have faith. All you can do is pray, be there for her, and hope she makes it through and just be there when she wakes up."

" Pray! Why should I pray! Nobody listens. If there is a god why have I lost so many people I love? This is just another bad thing that has happened to both of us. Why do certain people have all the bad cards dealt to them. She's barely done anything wrong in her entire life, and if she did she apologized for it right away. Me, I don't care about I mean I've gotten used to it, but her she's a 13-year-old girl for goodness sake. She doesn't deserve this!" Carter was yelling by this time and beginning to attract the attention of the surgeons on break.

You don't deserve this, either Abby thought to herself as she listened to her boyfriend's ravings.

Maybe I don't deserve this either Carter pondered to himself. I mean first Bobby, then Lucy, and now maybe Jacque. Who's next?

" Carter, not everything that has happened to you has been bad. I mean she came to live with you right? There is a god, sometimes you may not think so, but hey shit happens. We just have to deal with it. So pray for her to get well so you two can go back to your lives and maybe start being a real family. No one deserves half the stuff that happens to them, but we've got to take what we get."

Carter grabbed the back of the nearest chair, sank into it, and buried his face in Abby's neck. " Thanks, Abs," he mumbled into her neck.

" No problem, so what exactly happened when you broke Romano's nose?"

" Well," Carter let out another bitter laugh though this one sounded hoarse because he had been crying since the first one. " I was done in the ER because I couldn't stand it anymore up here. Romano told me that it was the right thing to do. That's when I realized it wasn't because it was what Romano would do. So I punched him and ran. When I left it was still spewing blood. He told me I was a dead man, and Weaver told him he deserved it. I didn't know he was planning to fire my ass"

" So that's why he was going to deck Weaver. She probably told him he couldn't and the fact that she told him he deserved to would have been enough to set Romano off," replied Abby laughing along with Carter. Looking over Carter's shoulder, the laugh died in her throat. Abby tapped Carter on the shoulder slowing pushing him off as she did so.


	10. Aftermath Part II The News

Chapter 10-Aftermath Part II

Disclaimer: Love Carter and the gang, but they're not mine.

Benton had just burst through the surgery doors. His eyes rapidly scanning the waiting room for his former student. Carter lifting his eyes and turning his head shot out of his seat the second he noticed Peter. " How did it go? How is she? Can I see her? What's going on? Peter talk to me." Carter was firing questions at Benton attempting to get answers but not allowing enough time for one. Meanwhile Abby had secretly slipped out and back to work. Technically she wasn't allowed to leave because it wasn't her family.

Benton put up his hand instantly silencing Carter, " Carter," he started slowly. " It went as well as could be expected under the circumstances. We had a few close calls, but Jacque managed to surprise us every time. There are a few scars that she going to have for the rest of her life. The surgery fixed most of the internal bleeding, but her stitches are a little loose, so we are going to watch them closely. Her blood pressure is still low, 80/60, but we've managed to stabilize it. She's in the ICU."

" Answer my questions, Peter. Is she going to be okay and can I go see her?" Carter was anxious to see his niece.

" All right Carter, but you have to promise to stay calm."

" Peter, I'm a doctor I can handle anything," Benton wasn't so sure thinking back to a few hours ago when Jacque had first been brought into the ER.

Peter took a deep breath and decided to tell Carter anyway that was he could freak out now and not in front his niece. " Carter you can go see her, but she'll still be sedated. The thing is though she won't be able to go home for a month maybe even more."

" A month!"

" Carter," Peter said calmly. " You're right you are a doctor. Therefore you should know how severe her injuries were. One more thing about her injuries Carter," Benton took a long pause to compose himself. " She may never walk again."

" What! How!"

"Some of the nerves her spinal cord were damaged from lack of blood. The paralysis may only be temporary. The one thing I need you to promise me though is that you won't tell her when she wakes up. The last thing she needs is to be aggravated. She just needs to be calm and give her wounds time to heal. If she does that she'll be out of here sooner. She's still critical."

Carter began to cry again. Through his tears and sobs he managed to ask, " Peter, just take me to see her. I wouldn't tell her anyway. I just want to see her and want her to get well." Benton started to walk knowing Carter would follow. That's how connected he was to this girl. Over the past few months she had become his life. "What room is she in?"

" 452," Benton wasn't sure how Carter would react to seeing Jacque the way she was. He had a hard time accepting it when people he loved get hurt.

I hope I can still tell who she is under all the bandages they are going to have on her. Is she going to be the same person she was before. How will she take all the news? Especially the part about not walking again."

"Here we are," Benton voice cut through Carter's thoughts. Carter not fully hearing him slammed into Peter as he abruptly stopped. Peter opened the door slowly watching Carter's face as he did so. Benton attempted to gage Carter's reaction. He wasn't fast enough. Peter watched in shock as Carter's expression turned from calm and collected to shock and horror. The expression didn't change for the next five minutes. Benton finally brought Carter out of his trance by touching his shoulder. Carter jumped," Are you okay?"

" Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! What did you do to her?" Carter couldn't even see his niece for all the bandages.

" I tried to tell you…" Benton stopped in mid-sentence.

" YOU DIDN'T SAY IT WAS THIS BAD!" Carter screamed attracting the attention of a few head turns.

" I really did try to tell you, but you were so intent on seeing your niece that you wouldn't listen."

" Can I at least go in her room?"

"Carter, calm down. It says that immediate family is allowed in. You're the only thing she's got left so I think you qualify. Go ahead," Peter gently gave his former student a nudge through the swinging door.

Carter immediately found the arm chair resting against the wall and dragged it next to Jacque's bed. " Hey gorgeous," he whispered placing his lips right next to Jacque's ear. Carter grabbed his niece's closest hand and brought it up to his chest. " Benton said the surgery went well. You'll be getting out of here as soon as your stitches heal and you wake up." BEEP! BEEP! Carter's head snapped up almost giving him whiplash as he thought her heard the heart monitor going flat, but the annoying beeping sound was only a pager sliced through the are like a knife. His mind instantaneously caused his eyes to drift to the pocket of his scrubs.

" It's mine," Peter confirmed giving Carter one last nod to show that he believed the girl would recover he left having other patients to attend to.

" Anyway as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," Carter continued. : Don't worry I'm right here. I'm not going to leave you like your parents did. You're my baby girl now. You need to get better so you can come home, and I can show you all the cool stuff my brother and sister and I used to do when we were kids. Oh yeah and I broke Romano's nose so you have to wake up and see that." Carter watched his niece's chest rise and fall not responding to him, his voice or his touch, at all. "Come on baby, just wake up soon." Carter had resorted to just sitting in silence content to listen to the heart monitor's steady beeping and the ventilator's consistent hiss.

"Carter," Benton had come back from checking the message on his pager.

"Huh? Back so soon?" Carter was temporarily confused.

" They paged the wrong person. Can I talk to you outside for a minute," he was standing only his head and torso were showing through the partially open door.

Carter used his arms to propel himself from his chair allowing Jacque's hand to drop with as soft plop as it hit the bed in the same position in which Carter had originally found it.

"What do you need?" Carter asked urgently desperately wanting to get back his niece afraid even though she was unconscious she would sense that he had left her

" I was just coming to tell you that if you want to spend the night with Jacque because the hospital considers you to be her immediate family, I can get you a cot that would probably be a lot more comfortable than that chair you seemed to be dozing in when I peeped in."

" That would be great," Carter uttered almost silently placing his arms around Benton in an awkward hug. Even though they were now rather good friends, they still had a student-teacher sort of relationship.

" John, Abby just told me that Jacque is out of surgery. How is she? Have you been allowed to see her yet?" The two male doctors quickly pulled out of their embrace and turned to see Chen sprinting down the hall towards them. She had gone back to work after she had seen Carter return upstairs where he should be.

" Deb, what are you doing here?" Carter was confused.

" Abby told me that Jacque just got out of surgery, I figured I should come up here, see how she was doing and apologize for the things I said earlier." Chen answered through gasps for air.

"I'll leave you two alone to discuss this." Peter began to walk away. " Oh, and Carter I'll see about that cot."

" Listen, Deb about before…you don't have to apologize. If anyone should be apologizing it's me. I'm sorry you were only trying to help, I just blew you off. You're my best friend, you were right. I never should have doubted the fact that she'd pull through. Thank you for tolerating me before," Carter rattled before Jing-Mei had a chance to get a word in edgewise.

" Carter, enough. I shouldn't have been pushing my beliefs on you like that and for that I am sorry. Now we're even. Truce?"

" Truce."

" So how is she?" Dr. Chen was anxious to see how her patient had faired.

" Well…" Carter wasn't sure exactly how to start. " Benton said the surgery went well. As well as could be expected that is. She's in recovery now. Would you like to see her?" Carter asked his voice catching.

" If I could," Deb replied eager to see if the young girl looked any better after surgery than she had beforehand.

Carter nodded and motioned Deb to follow him leading her back down the ICU corridor from which he had just come. He pushed open the door with tears running down his cheeks.

Deb glanced at her best friend. Could the girl possibly look that bad that Carter was still crying. She hadn't seen Jacque since she had been brought in so she didn't now if the surgery had done any good. Abby had just told her that Jacque was out of surgery and nothing more.

Carter stepped into the room, Chen right behind. "OH MY GOSH!" Chen gasped almost screaming. You could barely see the thirteen-year-old girl under all the bandages and machines.

"Carter," she whispered, her voice hoarse from tears. Deb moved around her friend to give him a hug. After staying for at least an hour if not more Deb checked her watch. " I've got to get home, I have to work tomorrow. Good-bye Carter." The time on her watch had read nine o'clock.

The minute his best friend left the room John Truman Carter went limp. The events of the day had finally wore the young doctor down to his last thread. What he had needed all day was a good night's sleep and that was exactly what he was going to get.

Over the next week Carter began adopt a schedule that allowed him to spend every waking moment he could with Jacque. Whenever he was scheduled to work he would get up in the morning and shower. Most of the time at the hospital and not at home. After this he would go home change clothes and sometimes bring another set with him. He would go to work. After work and during breaks he would go to visit Jacque. Susan, Mark, Abby, Peter, Elizabeth, Deb, Luka, Dave, Michael, Greg, Kerry, and even Romano would come and check up on him and Jacque. They would bring him food, coffee, toothpaste, or whatever else he needed.

This had been going on for few weeks at least. Deb and Abby were just going on break and decided to take Carter a cup of coffee. As they were getting off the elevator Deb bumped into someone rather familiar. " Ouch! Sorry John. How are you?"

"Fine."

" Hey baby," Abby whispered in Carter ear while hugging after coming up behind Deb. "Any change?" she asked, while giving Carter a peck on the cheek she had noticed he had had no lab coat on.

" No, but I haven't been in there yet today. I just got off and was going to see her now." Carter answered semi-shamefully. He had just gotten off work and hadn't had a break at all during his shift. This was the first chance he was getting to see her since he had left this morning to shower and change.

" Well good luck. I hope there is at least some change," Deb said starting to walk away. " For the better that is," she added.

" Call us if there's any change at all," Abby said before kissing Carter and following Deb back downstairs.

" I will," Carter told them. He stood holding his cup of coffee and watched as his girlfriend and his best friend walked down the hall.

After Abby and Deb had gotten on the elevator Carter turned and headed back to Jacque room sipping his coffee. "Hello, Dr. Carter," one of the nurses called coming out of Jacque's room as Carter turned the corner.

" Hello," Carter answered. The nurses had come to recognize him from seeing him every day for the past few weeks." Any change?"

"No. I'm afraid not sir."

" All right," Carter headed into the room being careful to throw his coffee cup out before going fully in. He looked over his niece and began a conversation. " How are you doing today?" he asked knowing a response would not come but hoping for one anyway.

John watched his niece carefully for any signs of movement. Not seeing any he continued. " Hopefully you'll be off that ventilator soon. You know all you have to do is believe you can breathe on your own and you'll be able to." Carter who had been talking to his niece was completely oblivious to the persistent tapping on the door. " Romano can finally breathe through his nose again, though it is still fairly red. He looks like Rudolph," the doctor laughed quietly to himself. As the tapping began to grow louder, and Carter paused in his monologue he could hear it. Knock. Knock. "Come in," he called inviting the knocker to show themselves.

" Hello, Dr. Carter," a blonde boy said coming through the door. " Sorry if I'm interrupting something."

" Hi, Ben. No you're not interrupting anything. I was just telling Jacque how my day went." He blushed then explained himself to the teen. People in comas can hear what you're saying." Getting himself out of the hole he had dug Carter changed the subject. " Visiting Rachel?"

" Yeah, she's asleep now though, so I figured I'd come visit Jacque. Any change?"

" No, still the same. How's Rachel?"

" Great, she gets out tomorrow," Ben answered happily. " I hope Jacque gets out soon."

" So I suppose you won't becoming around to visit Jacque anymore now that Rachel's out. It was nice of you to come while you did, you didn't have to you know."

" I want to. The truth is the only reason I came to see Rachel was so that I could come see Jacque too. I meant what I said before too, sir, I do hope Jacque gets out soon. When the group of us showed Jacque around the school Jacque started out with the group then noticed I was all alone so she slowed up even though the rest of the group kept going. I basically showed her around the school. I was having kind of a bad day that day and she listened to my story and comforted me even though she didn't know me. None of my friends had done that. She also listened to my version and point of view rather than my friends. Oh my gosh. I've got to go. Good-bye Dr. Carter. Good-bye Jacque."

I think he really likes her Carter thought to himself.


	11. Important Notes about this story

This story is in the process of being revised. Chapter one has been reposted and chapter two is coming soon. The new chapters will have more details equaling a better set up for the crossover later in the story. Hope you are enjoying the story so far. Any of you who like Supernatural, please feel free to check out my other stories. Also feel free to drop a review. I do all my own editing so don't feel bad pointing out mistakes or things you liked. Also let me know what you think of the new format. Thanks and as always keep reading.


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